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Performance of a Digital Cognitive Assessment in Predicting Dementia Stages Delineated by the Dementia Severity Rating Scale: Retrospective Study
Huynh D, Sun K, Patterson M, Hosseini Ghomi R, Huang B.. JMIR aging, 2025-02-26
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Dementia is characterized by impairments in an individual's cognitive and functional abilities. Digital cognitive assessments have been shown to be effective in detecting mild cognitive impairment and dementia, but whether they can stage the disease remains to be studied. Objective In this study, we examined (1) the correlation between scores obtained from BrainCheck standard battery of cognitive assessments (BC-Assess), a digital cognitive assessment, and scores obtained from the Dementia Severity Rating Scale (DSRS), and (2) the accuracy of using the BC-Assess score to predict dementia stage delineated by the DSRS score. We also explored whether BC-Assess can be combined with information from the Katz Index of Independence in activities of daily living (ADL) to obtain enhanced accuracy. Methods Retrospective analysis was performed on a BrainCheck dataset containing 1751 patients with dementia with different cognitive and functional assessments completed for cognitive care planning, including the DSRS, the ADL, and the BC-Assess. The patients were staged according to their DSRS total score (DSRS-TS): 982 mild (DSRS-TS 10-18), 656 moderate (DSRS-TS 19-26), and 113 severe (DSRS-TS 37-54) patients. Pearson correlation was used to assess the associations between BC-Assess overall score (BC-OS), ADL total score (ADL-TS), and DSRS-TS. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the possibility of using patients' BC-OS and ADL-TS to predict their stage. Results We found moderate Pearson correlations between DSRS-TS and BC-OS (r=-0.53), between DSRS-TS and ADL-TS (r=-0.55), and a weak correlation between BC-OS and ADL-TS (r=0.37). Both BC-OS and ADL-TS significantly decreased with increasing severity. BC-OS demonstrated to be a good predictor of dementia stages, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) of classification using logistic regression ranging from .733 to .917. When BC-Assess was combined with ADL, higher prediction accuracies were achieved, with an ROC-AUC ranging from 0.786 to 0.961. Conclusions Our results suggest that BC-Assess could serve as an effective alternative tool to DSRS for grading dementia severity, particularly in cases where DSRS, or other global assessments, may be challenging to obtain due to logistical and time constraints.
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APA 7th
Huynh, D., Sun, K., Patterson, M., Hosseini Ghomi, R., & Huang, B. (2025). Performance of a Digital Cognitive Assessment in Predicting Dementia Stages Delineated by the Dementia Severity Rating Scale: Retrospective Study. JMIR aging. https://doi.org/10.2196/65292
Vancouver
Huynh D, Sun K, Patterson M, Hosseini Ghomi R, Huang B. Performance of a Digital Cognitive Assessment in Predicting Dementia Stages Delineated by the Dementia Severity Rating Scale: Retrospective Study. JMIR aging. 2025. doi:10.2196/65292. PMID: 40009769.
BibTeX
@article{huynh2025-40009769,
author = {Huynh, D. and Sun, K. and Patterson, M. and Hosseini Ghomi, R. and Huang, B.},
title = {{Performance of a Digital Cognitive Assessment in Predicting Dementia Stages Delineated by the Dementia Severity Rating Scale: Retrospective Study}},
journal = {JMIR aging},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.2196/65292},
pmid = {40009769},
url = {https://doi.org/10.2196/65292}
}
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Key findings
- Pearson correlation was used to assess the associations between BC-Assess overall score (BC-OS), ADL total score (ADL-TS), and DSRS-TS.
- Results We found moderate Pearson correlations between DSRS-TS and BC-OS (r=-0.53), between DSRS-TS and ADL-TS (r=-0.55), and a weak correlation between BC-OS and ADL-TS (r=0.37).
- Both BC-OS and ADL-TS significantly decreased with increasing severity.
- BC-OS demonstrated to be a good predictor of dementia stages, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) of classification using logistic regression ranging from .733 to .917.
- Conclusions Our results suggest that BC-Assess could serve as an effective alternative tool to DSRS for grading dementia severity, particularly in cases where DSRS, or other global assessments, may be challenging to obtain due to logistical and time constraints.
Study details
- Participants1,751
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 55/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 32 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 55 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (JMIR aging) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 1,751 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40009769) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 32 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 32 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 55 out of 100. |
| Total | 55 / 100 | — |
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