Abstract
Background: Though dementia has become a world-wide priority, there is a low recognition rate in primary care settings, mostly due to time constraints and luck of suitable, brief and validated measures. In the case of multicultural population, primary care health systems face a variety of challenges during the diagnostic process. However, thanks to technological advantages, dementia early screening is becoming a key element factor of regular health check-ups.
Aim: This study is a part of an ongoing research which aims to design, develop and implement a web-based application for early dementia screening in primary care settings. It focuses on describing the methodology followed for the development of the web application and on presenting the final measures selected.
Methods: After consistent review of literature two advisory groups of experts were set up. First group consisted of clinical and experimental psychologists and its target was to propose adequate, validated, brief cognitive tools for screening early dementia. Second group consisted of general doctors and neurologists and its target was to propose those biomarkers, which have high value concerning the risk factors for dementia and would be most appropriate for primary health care settings. After knowledge extraction a prototype was designed and tested before the final application is ready to assess.
Outcomes: Inclusion criteria for test selection were: brief time of assessment, good psychometric values, availability of norms, restricted bias as for educational/ linguistic/socioeconomic reasons, multiple linguistic translations, no use licence needed and online availability. It was also of great importance the need to select tests which would evaluate both episodic memory and executive functioning. Final tools selected: GPCog, RUDAS, GDS-4, CAIDE Model.
Conclusion: It is possible to create a web-based application through the optimal utilization of computer science advances in the combination of cognitive tests and biomarkers for early screening of dementia.
Keywords
Dementia, Screening models, Cognitive tests, Biomarkers, Web-based applications