Singapore (VNA) – Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) under Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University has launched a screening tool powered by artificial intelligence to detect pre-dementia within just 15 minutes.
Mild cognitive impairment, or pre-dementia, affects as many as 12.5% of Singapore’s population, but diagnosing the condition can be costly and time-consuming.
The new screening ReCognAIze promises to make the process more efficient and affordable, identifying early signs of cognitive impairment within just 15 minutes.
ReCognAIze uses four specially designed neuroscientific games to assess mental skills such as executive function and working memory.
Powered by a proprietary algorithm, these games require users to do a series of tasks which include selecting the correct items after memorising a grocery list, as well as choosing the correct combination of notes and coins to pay a bill, the Straits Times reported.
Early clinical trials showed the tool, which can run as an app on a tablet, is almost 90% accurate in detecting mild cognitive impairment.
ReCognAIze was developed by a team led by Associate Professor Nagaendran Kandiah, director of the Dementia Research Centre (Singapore), otherwise known as DRCS, a centre under LKCMedicine.
Prof Kandiah said early identification of mild cognitive impairment could allow patients to make the necessary lifestyle changes to stave off dementia and help reverse the trend.
Dementia is an umbrella term for neurological conditions that lead to a decline in cognitive function, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated 86,000 people were living with dementia in Singapore in 2021 – a figure that is expected to grow to more than 150,000 by 2030 as the country’s population ages./.
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