A self-administered cognitive test that takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete identified patients with mild cognitive impairment who eventually progressed to dementia half a year earlier than the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), according to a study published in Alzheimer's Research & Therapy.

“Significant cognitive changes as individuals age are not being identified in a timely manner, delaying diagnosis and treatments,” wrote researchers from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, College of Medicine, and College of Public Health in Columbus, Ohio. “Use of brief, multi-domain, self-administered, objective cognitive assessment tools may remove some barriers in assessing and identifying cognitive changes.”

Over 8 years, researchers followed 665 consecutive patients from the Ohio State University Memory Disorders Clinic. Test scores from the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE) accurately identified patients with mild cognitive impairment who converted to a dementia diagnosis at least 6 months earlier than scores from the non-self-administered MMSE, according to the study. Of 164 patients with mild cognitive impairment at baseline, 70 progressed to dementia. Among them, 70% were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease dementia, 7% with Lewy body dementia, and 9% with pure or mixed vascular dementia.

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“SAGE aids in the identification of mild cognitive impairment status and is sensitive to cognitive changes over time,” researchers reported. “A 2–3-point drop or more in SAGE scores in 12–18 months may be significant and should trigger the provider to consider additional diagnoses, evaluations, or management changes.”

The SAGE test can be taken at home, in a clinician’s office, or virtually any setting, researchers explained. Four interchangeable forms are designed to reduce learning effects from repeated testing. The 11-item test covers cognitive domains including orientation, language, calculations, memory, abstraction, executive function, and constructional abilities. The MMSE tests neither abstraction nor executive function.

“For the clinical provider who longitudinally manages those with cognitive issues, use of SAGE provides a cognitive assessment tool that identifies cognitive changes sooner than MMSE, has advantages of time efficiencies in busy clinical practices, and consequently may more likely be administered and repeated regularly over time,” researchers wrote.

References

Scharre DW, Chang SI, Nagaraja HN, Wheeler NC, Kataki M. Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination: longitudinal cohort testing for the early detection of dementia conversion. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2021;13(1):192. doi: 10.1186/s13195-021-00930-4

Self-administered cognition test predicts early signs of dementia sooner. News release. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. December 4, 2021. Accessed December 10, 2021.