Remote versus in‐person cognitive testing: the impact of visit modality on longitudinal cognitive outcomes in older adults
Yu Leng, Yingnan He, Dawn Mechanic‐Hamilton, Lindsay R. Clark, Bonnie C. Sachs, Melissa Lamar, Zachary T. Beattie, Andrew J. Saykin, Lisa L. Barnes, Kevin Duff, Ana W. Capuano, Sudeshna DasAbstract
Introduction
The COVID‐19 pandemic accelerated adoption of remote cognitive assessments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, yet comparability across visit modalities remains unclear. This study evaluated whether visit modality influenced cognitive performance.
Methods
We analyzed 27,144 visits from 13,219 participants across 37 Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (March 2020 to December 2024), including in‐person, telephone, and video visits, among adults aged ≥65 years. Linear mixed‐effects models examined associations between visit modality and cognitive performance.
Results
Remote assessments comprised 20.8% of visits and were associated with slightly higher Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores than in‐person visits for both telephone and video modalities ( p < 2.0E‐16; Cohen's d = 0.21 to 0.26). Domain analyses showed modestly higher memory and attention performance during remote visits, with minimal differences in executive function or language.
Discussion
Remote cognitive assessments showed largely comparable performance to in‐person testing, supporting their validity and potential to improve accessibility and inclusiveness in AD research.