Assessment of cognition in Chinese older population from a digital game‐based mobile applet: an observational study

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundA rapid and reliable digital instrument is needed to improve the efficiency of dementia screening. We developed a digital game‐based mobile applet, Game‐based Cognitive Assessment – 3‐minute Version (G3), and aimed to summarize the demographic characteristics and cognitive performance of the online users in a large‐scale Chinese population.MethodThe G3 instrument is self‐administered, and includes cognitive tasks designed as interesting games to automatically assess individuals’ performance on six cognitive domains, i.e., calculation, executive function, visual perception, abstraction, memory and attention. We used an observational design to review all participants who registered for G3 assessment between Feb 28, 2020, and Oct 31, 2022. We restricted our analysis to a population of middle aged and older adults aged 45 to 89, as the focus of our study population. We descriptively analyzed the demographics, global cognitive scores, and the six domain scores of G3 users stratified by sex, education and geographic location.ResultA total of 12,113,327 individuals were enrolled in this study, of which 1,273,521 were 45∼89 years old. Among the population aged 45∼89, the mean G3 total score was 61.7±13.1 for women (n = 575490) and 60.1±13.2 for men (n = 698031). There was a tendency for the G3 scores in all cognitive domains to decrease with age and women were observed to achieve significantly higher scores than men in almost all age groups. When classified by education level, the G3 scores tended to decline with age in all groups, whereas those with relative low education level (below primary school) and advanced age (80‐89 years old) were heterogeneous. When classified by geographic locations, significant increases in G3 scores were observed among those aged 65‐69 years old in central China.ConclusionOur findings characterized the demographic characteristics and cognitive performance of Chinese older population via G3 instrument in a large sample and support the application of G3 for cognitive screening in a community‐based population with different ages and education levels in all regions of China. However, interpretation should be cautious in a population with low education and advanced age.