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55/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 55 out of 100. Getting a diagnosis

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

The global rise in dementia necessitates scalable cognitive assessments that can evolve to serve both clinical and research applications. We present the Oxford Cognitive Testing Portal (OCTAL), a remote, browser-based platform providing performance metrics for memory, attention, visuospatial and executive function domains. Four validation studies (N = 1664) confirmed cross-cultural applicability, lifespan sensitivity and clinical utility. Task performance was equivalent in English- and Chinese-speaking younger adults and mapped domain-specific ageing trajectories in mid- to late-adulthood. In a memory-clinic cohort (N = 194), 5-minute OCTAL screen distinguished patients with Alzheimer's disease dementia from subjective cognitive decline (AUC = 0.92), matching a standard paper-based test, while a 20-minute subset surpassed this (AUC = 0.97; p = 0.04). Test-retest reliability was very good (ICC ≥ 0.79; N = 118). OCTAL enables remote assessment for large-scale research and screening, with an open, modular architecture that makes it a uniquely sustainable and evolvable tool for the research community.

Key findings

Four validation studies (N = 1664) confirmed cross-cultural applicability, lifespan sensitivity and clinical utility.
Task performance was equivalent in English- and Chinese-speaking younger adults and mapped domain-specific ageing trajectories in mid- to late-adulthood.
In a memory-clinic cohort (N = 194), 5-minute OCTAL screen distinguished patients with Alzheimer's disease dementia from subjective cognitive decline (AUC = 0.92), matching a standard paper-based test, while a 20-minute subset surpassed this (AUC = 0.97; p = 0.04).
Test-retest reliability was very good (ICC ≥ 0.79; N = 118).
OCTAL enables remote assessment for large-scale research and screening, with an open, modular architecture that makes it a uniquely sustainable and evolvable tool for the research community.

Why it matters

In a memory-clinic cohort, a 5-minute remote digital screen distinguished Alzheimer's disease dementia from subjective cognitive decline, and a 20-minute subset performed better. This tool is for remote assessment and screening; the study did not test any treatment, cure or prevention.

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Study details

Participants1,664
Effect sizeAUC = 0.92; AUC = 0.97
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 55/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (npj Digital Medicine)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	Npj Digital Medicine: journal h-index 167 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	5 / 5	2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	3 / 4	1,664 participants
Effect reported	3 / 3	Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar)
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	1 / 7	Cited 4 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	1 / 5	2.0 citations a year over 2 year(s) since 2026
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 18.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	1 / 4	Cited 4 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Masud Husain: h-index 100 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Oxford: institution h-index 2,205 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 3 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41540118)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	55 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Zhao, S., Toniolo, S., Tang, Q.-Y., Scholcz, A., Ganse‐Dumrath, A., Gendarini, C., et al. (2026). Remote digital cognitive assessment for aging and dementia using the Oxford Cognitive Testing Portal OCTAL. npj Digital Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02346-6

Vancouver

Zhao S, Toniolo S, Tang Q.-Y, Scholcz A, Ganse‐Dumrath A, Gendarini C, et al. Remote digital cognitive assessment for aging and dementia using the Oxford Cognitive Testing Portal OCTAL. npj Digital Medicine. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41746-026-02346-6. PMID: 41540118.

BibTeX

@article{zhao2026-41540118,
  author  = {Zhao, Sijia and Toniolo, Sofia and Tang, Qian-Yuan and Scholcz, Anna and Ganse‐Dumrath, Akke and Gendarini, Claudia and Broulidakis, M. John and Thompson, Sian E. L. and others},
  title   = {{Remote digital cognitive assessment for aging and dementia using the Oxford Cognitive Testing Portal OCTAL}},
  journal = {npj Digital Medicine},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.1038/s41746-026-02346-6},
  pmid    = {41540118},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02346-6}
}

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