Normative data for COGITAB: An Italian tablet-based test battery conceived for the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

The number of people with dementia is increasing worldwide. Two main approaches have been adopted to identify subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD): the neuropsychological evaluation and the identification of biomarkers of AD. The first method is less invasive and easier to perform. This study assesses the psychometric properties of COGITAB, a novel web application d esigned to be sensitive to the subtle cognitive changes distinctive of the early Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and the preclinical phase of AD. We enrolled 518 healthy controls, classified according to several risk factors and the presence of a family history of dementia. The participants were given COGITAB after a neuropsychological screening. The COGITAB Total Score (TS) was significantly affected by age and years of education. Acquired risk factors and family history of dementia significantly impacted only the COGITAB total execution time (TET), not the TS. This study provides normative data for a newly developed web application. Control subjects with acquired risk factors performed slower, giving an important role to the TET recording. Further studies should examine the ability of this new technology to discriminate between healthy subjects and subjects with initial cognitive decline, even when not detected by standard neuropsychological assessments.

Keywords:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• cognitive screening
• digital cognitive assessment tool
• preclinical AD

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Jessica Ternelli, Valeria Giuffrida, Valentina Iandolo, Nicole Monti, Sara Baduino, Giulia Testa and Sara Lavolpe for their contribution to data collection and to Stefano Gombi for implementing the first COGITAB prototype.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the OPLON project (Opportunities for active and healthy LONgevity, Smart Cities, Ministero Università e Ricerca, SCN_00176); Associazione Italiana Malattia di Alzheimer Reggio Emilia (AIMA) provided us with the tablets; a private sponsor supported the research with two annual scholarships.