Feasibility, Reliability, and Validity of a Smartphone Based Application for the Assessment of Cognitive Function in the Elderly
Open Access
- 11 June 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (6), e65925
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065925
Abstract
While considerable knowledge has been gained through the use of established cognitive and motor assessment tools, there is a considerable interest and need for the development of a battery of reliable and validated assessment tools that provide real-time and remote analysis of cognitive and motor function in the elderly. Smartphones appear to be an obvious choice for the development of these "next-generation" assessment tools for geriatric research, although to date no studies have reported on the use of smartphone-based applications for the study of cognition in the elderly. The primary focus of the current study was to assess the feasibility, reliability, and validity of a smartphone-based application for the assessment of cognitive function in the elderly. A total of 57 non-demented elderly individuals were administered a newly developed smartphone application-based Color-Shape Test (CST) in order to determine its utility in measuring cognitive processing speed in the elderly. Validity of this novel cognitive task was assessed by correlating performance on the CST with scores on widely accepted assessments of cognitive function. Scores on the CST were significantly correlated with global cognition (Mini-Mental State Exam: r = 0.515, p<0.0001) and multiple measures of processing speed and attention (Digit Span: r = 0.427, p<0.0001; Trail Making Test: r = -0.651, p<0.00001; Digit Symbol Test: r = 0.508, p<0.0001). The CST was not correlated with naming and verbal fluency tasks (Boston Naming Test, Vegetable/Animal Naming) or memory tasks (Logical Memory Test). Test re-test reliability was observed to be significant (r = 0.726; p = 0.02). Together, these data are the first to demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, and validity of using a smartphone-based application for the purpose of assessing cognitive function in the elderly. The importance of these findings for the establishment of smartphone-based assessment batteries of cognitive and motor function in the elderly is discussedThis publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- Distraction: an assessment of smartphone usage in health care work settingsRisk Management and Healthcare Policy, 2012
- A Multi-Sensor Monitoring System of Human Physiology and Daily ActivitiesTelemedicine and e-Health, 2012
- A Re-conceptualization of Access for 21st Century HealthcareJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2011
- Smart Phone, Smart Science: How the Use of Smartphones Can Revolutionize Research in Cognitive SciencePLOS ONE, 2011
- Healthcare in the pocket: Mapping the space of mobile-phone health interventionsJournal of Biomedical Informatics, 2011
- How smartphones are changing the face of mobile and participatory healthcare: an overview, with example from eCAALYXBioMedical Engineering OnLine, 2011
- Development and Feasibility of a Smartphone, ECG and GPS Based System for Remotely Monitoring Exercise in Cardiac RehabilitationPLOS ONE, 2011
- Aging in America in the Twenty‐first Century: Demographic Forecasts from the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging SocietyThe Milbank Quarterly, 2009
- The Alzheimer's Disease Centers' Uniform Data Set (UDS) The Neuropsychologic Test BatteryAlzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, 2009
- The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD). Part I. Clinical and neuropsychological assesment of Alzheimer's diseaseNeurology, 1989