Digital drawing test shows promise in detecting early-stage dementia
McKnight’s Senior Living February 28, 2024
By drawing a clock, seniors could give themselves more time to stave off cognitive decline and dementia. It sounds fanciful, but the science is robust.
The “Digital Clock and Recall” test – which includes the aforementioned drawing of a timepiece – was able to better identify early stages of cognitive decline better than paper-and-pencil alternatives, new research shows.
The examination, developed by Linus Health, is conducted on a tablet and is able to identify early-stage cognitive impairment in an extra 80% of users who were initially misdiagnosed as completely healthy, the research showed.
“The vast majority of cognitive impairment cases are detected reactively, only after patients report memory concerns to healthcare providers,” the study authors wrote. “This underlines...