Digital cognitive assessments for Quebec English-speaking older adults and patients on the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum

About 1 in 9 people above 65 years old has Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Timely and precise diagnosis, along with comprehensive cognitive assessment, play crucial roles in managing this disease effectively. A precise evaluation of cognition is essential for making accurate diagnoses, including the identification of the prodromal phase of AD known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, conventional cognitive tests come with significant limitations, especially for the English-speaking population in Quebec. These issues encompass the absence of tests tailored to English speakers in Canada or Quebec, outdated norms exceeding 20 years, a lack of contemporary digital assessment tools, and the failure to consider social determinants of health (SDOH) in normative data. Our project has two primary goals:

1. to validate and standardize a cognitive battery incorporating digital adaptive tests for English-speaking older adults in Quebec, while accounting for SDOH;

2. to compare the diagnostic accuracy of a traditional paper-pencil cognitive battery with a digital counterpart for MCI. Our study will involve 150 cognitively unimpaired older adults and 20 MCI patients, who will undergo both traditional and novel digital cognitive assessments.

This project holds immense significance for clinical practice and Quebec's English-speaking communities, as it will provide novel open-access digital tools for researchers and clinicians. These tools will offer a more accurate, efficient and engaging experience for patients and clinicians.