MemScreen: A smartphone application for detection of mild cognitive impairment: A validation study
The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease. 2025-01-01; : 100077
DOI: 10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100077
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Dumurgier J(1), Paquet C(2), Hugon J(2), Planche V(3), Gaubert S(4), Epelbaum S(5), Bombois S(5), Teichmann M(5), Levy R(5), Baudouin E(6), Vrillon A(2), Hourrègue C(4), Cognat E(2), Sabia S(7), Singh-Manoux A(7).
Author information:
(1)Université Paris-Cité, Cognitive Neurology Center, GHU APHP Nord Lariboisière
Fernand-Widal Hospital, 200 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis, 75010 Paris, France;
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1153, Centre of Research in Epidemiology and
Statistics, Team Epidemiology of Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases, 10
avenue de Verdun, 75010 Paris, France. Electronic address:
.
(2)Université Paris-Cité, Cognitive Neurology Center, GHU APHP Nord Lariboisière
Fernand-Widal Hospital, 200 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis, 75010 Paris, France;
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1144, Therapeutic Optimization in
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2 rue Ambroise Paré, 7510 Paris, France.
(3)Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Bordeaux University, CNRS, UMR
5293, 146 Rue Léo Saignat, 33000 Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(4)Université Paris-Cité, Cognitive Neurology Center, GHU APHP Nord Lariboisière
Fernand-Widal Hospital, 200 rue du Faubourg Saint Denis, 75010 Paris, France.
(5)Sorbonne Université, Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease, Groupe
Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47 boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75010 Paris,
France.
(6)Groupement Hospitalier Portes de Provence, route de Sauzet. 26200 Montélimar,
France.
(7)Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1153, Centre of Research in Epidemiology and
Statistics, Team Epidemiology of Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases, 10
avenue de Verdun, 75010 Paris, France; Faculty of Brain Sciences, University
College London, 38-50 Bidborough Street, WC1H 9BT London, UK.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Primary care is often the first point of contact for
patients with cognitive complaints, making initial cognitive screening an
essential step to avoid delays in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at an
early stage. We developed MemScreen, a self-administered smartphone application
that assesses overall cognition and verbal memory, and evaluated its ability to
detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in both general and clinical populations.
METHODS: We conducted two validation cohort studies: (1) UK-based Whitehall II
cohort study (13th wave, 2018-2022) involving a general population (MCI defined
by poor performance on a global cognitive score), and (2) five French memory
clinics involving patients without dementia (amnestic MCI defined by the Free
and Cued Selective Reminding Test). MemScreen, MMSE, and TMT-A effectiveness was
assessed using Area Under the Curve (AUC) values from unadjusted and adjusted
logistic regression models.
RESULTS: In Whitehall II (n = 2118, mean age 75.9 years, 23.9 % women, 14.5 %
MCI), median MemScreen completion time was 4 min 18 s. MemScreen had the highest
AUC (0.87; 95 % CI: 0.82-0.89) for distinguishing MCI, outperforming MMSE (AUC =
0.79; 0.76-0.82; p = 0.018) and TMT-A (AUC = 0.77; 0.74-0.80; p = 0.023).
MemScreen sensitivity and specificity were 78.6 % and 78.7 %, respectively. In
memory clinics (n = 303, mean age 70.5 years, 53 % women, 46.9 % amnestic MCI),
median completion time was 5 min 17 s. MemScreen showed superior performance
(AUC = 0.87; 0.83-0.91) compared to MMSE (AUC = 0.72; 0.67-0.78; p < 0.001) and
TMT-A (AUC = 0.63; 0.56-0.69; p < 0.001), with 93.0 % sensitivity and 54.0 %
specificity for amnestic MCI.
DISCUSSION: MemScreen outperformed traditional tests in identifying MCI in both
general and clinical populations. Its self-administration and short completion
time suggest potential as an effective screening tool to optimize memory clinic
referrals for AD diagnosis and treatment.
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights
reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100077
PMID: 39880699
Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors
declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be
considered as potential competing interests: JULIEN DUMURGIER reports financial
support was provided by Lilly France. JULIEN DUMURGIER reports financial support
was provided by Fondation Vaincre Alzheimer. If there are other authors, they
declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this
paper.