| Objectives: Early recognition and intervention of cognitive impairment are especially helpful in improving the life quality of middle-aged and elderly people and reducing the burden of families and society.Neuropsychological testing is an important method to identify and evaluate cognitive impairment.Currently used cognitive screening tools are usually lack of sensitivity in identifying mild cognitive impairment.On the other hand,traditional cognitive assessment batteries are able to comprehensively assess cognitive functions,but are complicated in operation and time-consuming.Therefore,it is of great application value to develop a set of tools which is both accurate and easy to implement.Thus,the present study aims to develop a computerized cognitive assessment battery.Methods: 1)A set of cognitive assessment battery was established and used in clinical settings;2)Professional software engineering teams were responsible for developing the computerized cognitive assessment battery;3)The computerized battery was tested and debugged repeatedly by the research group,clinical experts and software engineering teams until it was suitable for clinical application;4)Qualified volunteers were recruited and completed the traditional and computerized batteries of cognitive assessment;5)The reliability and validity of computerized cognitive assessment battery were evaluated using content validity,criterion validity(the correlation between the scores of the paired indicators of computerized and traditional batteries of cognitive assessment),inter-rater reliability(the correlation between manual scoring and software scoring of computerized battery),and retest reliability(the correlation between scores of computerized battery completed at baseline and two weeks later);6)The norms of computerized cognitive assessment battery were established.Results: 1)The traditional cognitive assessment battery included Auditory Verbal Learning Test of Huashan version(AVLT-H),Digit Span Test(DST),Shape Trails Test(STT),Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test(ROCF);2)The computerized cognitive assessment battery developed in this study included the following tests: computerized Digit Span Test,computerized Shape Trails Test,computerized Common Objects Picture Memory Test and computerized Complex Figure puzzle test.An autorun version of the battery was also developed to facilitate the clinical usage;3)A total of 72 volunteers were included in this study,28 males and 44 females.The age range is 51 to 82 years old(65.94±8.44),and the years of education ranged from 7 to 22 years(12.42±3.04);4)The computerized cognitive assessment battery was developed by professional software engineering teams based on the patterns of currently well-recognized tests.The design has been repeatedly demonstrated by neurologists and neuropsychologists and repeatedly tested and debugged after development until it was considered qualified to be used in clinical settings.The correlation coefficients of the paired indicators of the computerized and traditional batteries were between 0.307 and 0.686,showing satisfactory criterion validity;The correlation coefficients between manual scoring and software scoring were between 0.904 and 1.0,showing excellent inter-rater reliability;The correlation coefficients between the computerized scores performed at baseline and two weeks later were between 0.663 and 1.0,indicating acceptable test-retest reliability;5)The norms were established according to subjects’ age and years of education when necessary.Conclusion: The present study successfully developed a computerized cognitive assessment battery with satisfactory reliability and validity,indicating it could be a promising tool in early diagnoses and evaluations of cognitive impairment.It is still necessary to expand the sample size to further verify its reliability and validity,especially to verify the feasibility and diagnostic efficacy of in cognitive impairment. |
PDF Full Text Request