Can you detect early dementia from an email?:A proof of principle study of daily computer use to detect cognitive and functional decline

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether multiple computer use behaviours can distinguish between cognitively healthy older adults and those in the early stages of cognitive decline, and to investigate whether these behaviours are associated with cognitive and functional ability. Methods: Older adults with cognitive impairment (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 24) completed assessments of cognitive and functional abilities and a series of semi-directed computer tasks. Computer use behaviours were captured passively using bespoke software. Results: The profile of computer use behaviours was significantly different in cognitively impaired compared with cognitively healthy control participants including more frequent pauses, slower typing, and a higher proportion of mouse clicks. These behaviours were significantly associated with performance on cognitive and functional assessments, in particular, those related to memory. Conclusion: Unobtrusively capturing computer use behaviours offers the potential for early detection of neurodegeneration in non-clinical settings, which could enable timely interventions to ultimately improve long-term outcomes.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.4863
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
Additional Information: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Funding: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under Grant EP/K015796/1.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Alzheimer's disease,Cognitive decline,Computer use,Dementia,Functional ability,Mild cognitive impairment,Geriatrics and Gerontology,Psychiatry and Mental health
Publication ISSN: 1099-1166
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2024 08:23
Date Deposited: 26 Feb 2018 12:10
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://onlinel ... 0.1002/gps.4863 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-07-01
Published Online Date: 2018-02-09
Accepted Date: 2018-01-03
Authors: Stringer, G.
Couth, S.
Brown, L. J.E.
Montaldi, D.
Gledson, A.
Mellor, J.
Sutcliffe, A.
Sawyer, P. (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-8044-2738)
Keane, J.
Bull, C.
Zeng, X.
Rayson, P.
Leroi, I.

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