Brief Report: Using the Internet to Identify Persons with Cognitive Impairment for Participation in Clinical Trials.

Lindsay Morra,Jason Brandt

doi:10.3390/brainsci7040036

Lindsay Morra, Jason Brandt

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci7040036

Copy DOI

Abstract

Identifying, recruiting, and enrolling persons in clinical trials of dementia treatments is extremely difficult. One approach to first-wave screening of potential participants is the use of online assessment tools. Initial studies using the Dementia Risk Assessment (DRA)—which includes a previously validated recognition memory test—support the use of this self-administered assessment to identify individuals with “suspected MCI” or “suspected dementia.” In this study, we identified between 71 and 622 persons with suspected dementia and between 128 and 1653 persons with suspected mild cognitive impairment (depending on specific criteria) over the course of 22 months. Assessment tools that can inexpensively and easily identify individuals with higher than average risk for cognitive impairment can facilitate recruitment for large-scale clinical trials for dementia treatments.

Highlights

Identifying, recruiting, and enrolling persons with varying degrees of cognitive impairment in clinical trials of dementia treatments is arduous, time-consuming, and very expensive [1,2,3]
The results have been validated against other assessment instruments, as well as clinical diagnosis based on multiple diagnostic procedures in specialty dementia clinics [16,17]
In late 2016, approximately half of the world’s population had access to the Internet [18]. This makes it a potentially useful vehicle for the initial ascertainment of persons with mild cognitive impairment or early AD who would be screened in person for eligibility for clinical trials

Summary

Introduction

Identifying, recruiting, and enrolling persons with varying degrees of cognitive impairment in clinical trials of dementia treatments is arduous, time-consuming, and very expensive [1,2,3]. This is especially true in multicenter and multinational studies that have become popular in recent years. Several screening methods have been developed and employed These are typically comprised of informant questionnaires or cognitive tests, and are often administered in-person [4,5] or over the telephone [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. We report here on the feasibility of using the DRA to identify persons with (a) suspected mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and (b) suspected dementia, who would receive telephone or in-person screening for trial eligibility

Methods

Results

Conclusion