デジタル技術を利用した認知機能評価アプリと認知症スクリーニング

Digital Technologies for Enhancing Dementia Screening

認知症の早期介入の実現に向けて，認知機能の低下を効率的にスクリーニングする手法の需要が高まっている。現状，問診や筆記式による簡易認知機能検査が広く用いられているが，検査負担や客観性などの点で課題が残されている。近年，デジタル技術を利用したまったく新しい認知機能評価法の開発が進められており，一部は臨床応用に至っている。簡便性と客観性を兼ね備えた認知症スクリーニング法として活用されることが期待されている。

Abstract

Dementia is becoming a serious social and healthcare issue worldwide. While recent studies suggest that timely intervention can prevent its progression, most patients with dementia remain undiagnosed. The low diagnosis rate is mainly caused by the lack of an efficient screening tool for dementia. The first step toward diagnosing dementia involves cognitive assessments with interview-based neuropsychological tests, which have a well-established clinical utility. Traditional neuropsychological tests have high validity and reliability for dementia testing; however, they have limitations such as high test-related burdens and inter-rater variability of the results. Digital technologies with artificial intelligence have transformed traditional cognitive tests into efficient tools for dementia screening. This review article introduces recent developments in the research on digital biomarkers for dementia and discusses their limitations in clinical settings.