People are living longer than ever before and one of the greatest challenges facing the elderly is maintaining adequate functional capacity as they reach advanced age. Achieving this goal in turn depends on the ability of health care providers to be able to carefully measure and monitor cognitive functioning and other aspects of functional status. Assessment of cognitive function in the elderly is also a critical aspect of pharmaceutical companies involved in the development of drugs to improve cognition. Computerized screening of cognitive impairment in the elderly offers advantages over standard paper and pencil administration, yet fully automated computerized neuropsychological batteries have not been developed for both research and clinical use in the elderly. In this phase I SBIR application, we propose to test the feasibility of the Brain Resource Company Computerized Assessment Battery (BRC-CAB), a portable computerized neuropsychological system that offers significant advantages over current methods. Our system is a standalone, fully automated computerized neuropsychological assessment system comprised of ten cognitive tests that tap the major networks of the brain. The cognitive tests include sufficient breadth to capture function across all major cognitive domains and it was developed for specific use in the elderly population. The tests are administered on a 600MH Xenus tablet using a touch screen interface and voice recording. In pilot studies we administered the computerized tests to a small sample of healthy elderly individuals and patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Preliminary analyses reveal that the battery is sensitive to the cognitive changes in the elderly. Commercialization of the automated system requires further evaluation of the psychometric properties and clinical application. In phase I of this application we will accomplish three primary aims. First, establish the validity and reliability of the computerized test battery. Standard paper-and-pencil tests will be given to determine the validity of the computerized tests. Split-half reliability will be examined using reliability coefficients. Second, we will assess perceived acceptability, computer familiarity, and rate of complete self-administration of the BRC-CAB. Third, we will administer the BRC-CAB to 50 patients with probable AD to demonstrate the sensitivity of the battery to cognitive impairments in this population. Correlations will demonstrate the validity and reliability of the BRC-CAB. Performances will be contrasted between healthy controls and the AD group using MANOVAs. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: Potential commercial applications will include three primary groups: 1) pharmaceutical companies involved in the development of novel compounds to treat cognitive disorders in elderly patients, 2) clinicians seeking an economical, brief, and robust clinical screening of cognitive impairment in the elderly, and 3) academic researchers involved in the study of cognitive changes associated with aging.
Thesaurus Terms: Alzheimer's disease, cognition, cognition disorder, computer assisted diagnosis, computer system design /evaluation, diagnosis design /evaluation, functional ability, mental disorder diagnosis biomedical automation, computer assisted patient care, interactive multimedia, neuropsychology, psychological aspect of aging, psychometrics behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human old age (65+), human subject, neuropsychological test
