Now is the Time to Improve Cognitive Screening and Assessment for Clinical and Research Advancement

Article type: Article Commentary

Authors: Ashford, J. Wesson^{a; b; c; *} | Schmitt, Frederick A.^{c; d} | Bergeron, Michael F.^e | Bayley, Peter J.^{a; b; c} | Clifford, James O.^f | Xu, Qun^{g; *} | Liu, Xiaolei^{h; i} | Zhou, Xianbo^{j; k} | Kumar, Vinod^l | Buschke, Herman^{c; m} | Dean, Margaret^{c; n} | Finkel, Sanford I.^{c; o} | Hyer, Lee^{c; p} | Perry, George^{c; q}

Affiliations: [a] War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, VA Palo Alto HCS, Palo Alto, CA, USA | [b] Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA | [c] Medical, Scientific, Memory Screening Advisory Board, Alzheimer’s Foundation of American (AFA), New York, USA | [d] Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, Neurosurgery, Psychology, Behavioral Science; Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center, University of Kentucky, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, Lexington, KY, USA | [e] SIVOTEC Analytics, Boca Raton, FL, USA | [f] College of San Mateo, San Mateo, CA, USA | [g] Health Management Center, Department of Neurology, Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China | [h] Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China | [i] Yunnan Provincial Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Yunnan, China | [j] Center for Alzheimer’s Research, Washington Institute of Clinical Research, Vienna, VA, USA | [k] Zhongze Therapeutics, Shanghai, China | [l] University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA | [m] The Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology and Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Lena and Joseph Gluck Distinguished Scholar in Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA | [n] Geriatric Division, Internal Medicine, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA | [o] University of Chicago Medical School, Chicago, IL, USA | [p] Gateway Behavioral Health, Mercer University, School of Medicine, Savannah, GA, USA | [q] Brain Health Consortium, Department Biology and Chemistry, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: J. Wesson Ashford, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, War Related Illness & Injury Study Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA. E-mail: ashford@stanford.edu and Qun Xu, MD, PhD, Health Management Center, Department of Neurology, Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. E-mail: xuqun628@163.com.

Abstract: Wang et al. analyze Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment accuracy as screening tests for detecting dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Such tests are at the center of controversy regarding recognition and treatment of AD. The continued widespread use of tools such as MMSE (1975) underscores the failure of advancing cognitive screening and assessment, which has hampered the development and evaluation of AD treatments. It is time to employ readily available, efficient computerized measures for population/mass screening, clinical assessment of dementia progression, and accurate determination of approaches for prevention and treatment of AD and related conditions.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, cognition assessment, computerized testing, MemTrax, Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, neuroplasticity

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-220211

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 87, no. 1, pp. 305-315, 2022