Newly self-administered two-step tool for screening cognitive function in an ageing Chinese population: an exploratory cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Early screening of cognitive function is critical to dementia treatment and care. However, traditional tests require face-to-face administration and are often limited by implementation costs and biases. AIMS: This study aimed to assess whether the Thoven Cognitive Self-Assessment (TCSA), a novel, innovative two-step touchscreen-based cognition assessment tool, could identify early cognitive impairment due to dementia in older adults. METHODS: The TCSA was administered to 61 healthy controls (HCs), 46 participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 44 participants diagnosed with dementia recruited from Shanghai. Two outcome measures were generated from the TCSA test: the TCSA(primary task) score and the TCSA(secondary task) score. RESULTS: The total average scores in the control group for the TCSA(primary task) and TCSA(secondary task) were significantly higher than those in the MCI and dementia groups (TCSA(primary task): HCs vs MCI group vs dementia group, 8.58±1.76 vs 5.40±2.67 vs 2.74±2.11, F=75.40, p<0.001; TCSA(secondary task): HCs vs MCI group vs dementia group, 23.02±3.31 vs 17.95±4.93 vs 11.93±5.50, F=76.46, p<0.001). Moreover, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that a score below 7.5 for the TCSA(primary task) and a score below 22.5 for the TCSA(secondary task) were indicators of MCI. CONCLUSIONS: The TCSA appears to be efficacious for the detection of cognitive impairment in older adults. It demonstrates the potential for large-scale cognition screening in community service settings.