The Noukatsu Balancer CogEvo: A computer-based cognitive screening test for the community-dwelling elderly people and dementia

Paeksoon Park¹⁾, Tetsuya Ohgami²⁾, Tetsuo Kashibayashi³⁾, Hisatomo Kowa⁴⁾, Makoto Tokuda⁵⁾, Rei Ono⁴⁾, Takahiro Nakano⁶⁾, Tetsuya Yamagami⁷⁾, Kiyoshi Maeda¹⁾

¹⁾Kobegakuin University, Faculty of Comprehenshive Rehabilitation
²⁾Nihon Pharmaceutical University, Department of Pharmacology
³⁾Hyogo Prefectural Rehabilitation Hospital at Nishi-harima, Neurocognitive Disorders Medical Center
⁴⁾Kobe University, Graduate School of Health Sciences
⁵⁾Life Science Institute Inc. Research and Development Division, Clinical Development Department
⁶⁾Nakano Neurosurgery and General Medicine Clinic
⁷⁾Gunma University, Graduate School of Health Sciences

The Noukatsu Balancer CogEvo（CogEvo） is a computer-based assessment tool for cognitive decline in elderly people with and without dementia, which can be measured in about 15 minutes.　The goal of this study was to examine whether the CogEvo can detect an early cognitive decline for dementia in the complex primary care setting.　We conducted the basic five tasks of CogEvo and the Mini-Mental State Examination（MMSE） for 120 elderly people（Study1） and 219 outpatients in medical setting（Study2） living in Hyogo or Aomori prefectures.　The study1 demonstrated a significant correlation between the total scores of CogEvo and those of MMSE.　The study2 also showed a significant correlation between the total scores of CogEvo and those of MMSE, and a significant difference between the total scores of CogEvo in three groups:　Alzheimer's disease（AD）, mild cognitive impairment and healthy individuals.　In addition, each score for its basic 5 tasks of CogEvo in AD was significantly correlated with some subscales of MMSE.　These findings in two settings suggest that the CogEvo could be the helpful tool in early detection of cognitive impairment in the primary care setting.　It was also revealed that there were still a lot of challenges left.

Key words:computer-based cognitive assessment tool, community-dwelling elderly people, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, primary care setting

Address correspondence to Paeksoon Park, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University（Yoshida-Nihonmatsu-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan）