A new early warning method for mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease based on dynamic evaluation of the “spatial executive process”
Kai Li, Xiaowen Ma, Tong Chen, Junyi Xin, Chen Wang, Bo Wu, Atsushi Ogihara, Siyu Zhou, Jiakang Liu, Shouqiang Huang, Yujia Wang, Shuwu Li, Zeyuan Chen, Runlong Xu- Health Information Management
- Computer Science Applications
- Health Informatics
- Health Policy
Objective
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's disease (AD), as an early stage of AD, is an important point for early warning of AD. Neuropathological studies have shown that AD pathology in pre-dementia patients involves the hippocampus and caudate nucleus, which are responsible for controlling cognitive mechanisms such as the spatial executive process (SEP). The aim of this study is to design a new method for early warning of MCI due to AD by dynamically evaluating SEP.
Methods
We designed fingertip interaction handwriting digital evaluation paradigms and analyzed the dynamic trajectory of fingertip interaction and image data during “clock drawing” and “repetitive writing” tasks. Extracted fingertip interaction digital biomarkers were used to assess participants’ SEP disorders, ultimately enabling intelligent diagnosis of MCI due to AD. A cross-sectional study demonstrated the predictive performance of this new method.
Results
We enrolled 30 normal cognitive (NC) elderly and 30 MCI due to AD patients, and clinical research results showed that there may be neurobehavioral differences between the two groups in digital biomarkers captured during SEP. The early warning performance for MCI due to AD of this new method (areas under the curve (AUC) = 0.880) is better than that of the Minimum Mental State Examination (MMSE) neuropsychological scale (AUC = 0.856) assessed by physicians.
Conclusion
Patients with MCI due to AD may have SEP disorders, and this new method based on dynamic evaluation of SEP will provide a novel human–computer interaction and intelligent early warning method for home and community screening of MCI due to AD.