The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK considers adding a 5‑minute cognitive test to its annual health check-up

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Using AI assess­ment to tack­le demen­tia in ultra-ear­ly stages (Dig­i­tal Health):

“Demen­tia and Alzheimer’s dis­ease con­tin­ue to increase and remain the lead­ing cause of death in Eng­land and Wales, account­ing for 12.8% of all deaths reg­is­tered in 2018 … While there is no cure avail­able, catch­ing dis­eases like Alzheimer’s ear­ly on can help those liv­ing with the con­di­tion to slow its progression.

Cogne­tiv­i­ty Neu­ro­sciences, a Cam­bridge Uni­ver­si­ty spin-out based in Lon­don, has devel­oped an arti­fi­cial-intel­li­gence (AI) pow­ered test designed to detect cog­ni­tive decline in its ultra-ear­ly stages – poten­tial­ly detect­ing demen­tia and relat­ed con­di­tions up to 15 years before a for­mal diagnosis.

The five-minute iPad test, which is cur­rent­ly under­go­ing clin­i­cal val­i­da­tion tri­als at eight NHS trusts, is designed to be admin­is­tered as part of a patient’s annu­al health check-up, much as a GP would per­form a blood pres­sure test … The test, which is under­pinned by a pro­pri­etary machine learn­ing sys­tem, scores each patient’s speed, accu­ra­cy and atten­tion using a traf­fic light sys­tem, which can then be used by a health­care pro­fes­sion­al to aid diagnosis.

Scor­ing in the red zone would indi­cate cog­ni­tive issues where a refer­ral to a mem­o­ry clin­ic would be recommended.”

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