- Статьи
- Science and technology
- Nervous tic: the world's first cognitive aging clock will help identify dementia on its own
Nervous tic: the world's first cognitive aging clock will help identify dementia on its own
Russian scientists have created the world's first cognitive aging clock, which uses AI to assess how much a person's mental abilities correspond to the age norm. If the result is more than seven years higher than the actual age, this is a reason to consult a doctor. Currently, you can only get tested for signs of dementia in a hospital under the guidance of a doctor. The new technology will allow you to do this yourself. The test is available online for everyone. According to experts, the development will bring a lot of benefits, since all people over the age of 55 need to monitor their condition annually.
The clock of cognitive aging
Specialists from the National Research Nizhny Novgorod Lobachevsky State University (NNSU) have developed the world's first cognitive aging clock with artificial intelligence elements. The watch allows you to determine how much a person's mental abilities meet age standards.
Currently, a medical examination is necessary to identify the first signs of dementia. The new technology makes it possible to do this yourself. Testing will take only 20 minutes. If its results exceed the biological age of a person by more than seven years, this is a reason to consult with doctors.
— We have several scenarios for using the development. The first is a screening program. There are many methods for detecting dementia. But for this, a person must come to the hospital and undergo all examinations in the hospital with the help of a specialist. It costs money, and people don't really like going to the doctors. In principle, healthy people who want to check themselves quickly and reliably need our tool," said Mikhail Ivanchenko, Director of the NSU Research Institute of Aging Biology.
Testing is available to everyone online. It includes a set of classical tasks that have long been used in clinical practice to identify neurodegenerative processes. For example, in one of the tests, a participant is asked to memorize the color of a shape and, depending on its changes, press or not press the mouse button. If the examination showed slight deviations from the norm in two to three years, then the user can be recommended to practice on special cognitive simulators - these are exercises that train mental activity and memory.
Based on the responses, AI creates a full-fledged digital cognitive profile of a person. Based on the responses, the system evaluates more than 300 different parameters that reflect various metal functions. In addition to self-monitoring of their condition by everyone, a detailed interpretation of this data by the machine will help specialists who will receive a detailed portrait of their patient and will be able to choose a treatment based on it.
— The system has been validated for a number of neurodegenerative pathologies. In other words, we have shown that we are not just assessing subjective age, but our tests are sensitive to dementia and mild cognitive impairment. People with a medical diagnosis took this test, and its results actually revealed accelerated cognitive aging," Mikhail Ivanchenko emphasized.
Annual check-up
Attempts to create accessible diagnostic tools for dementia have been made for many years around the world, as existing methods are complex and require the participation of trained specialists, who are always in short supply, said neurologist Marina Anikina.
— We have very few neuropsychologists and dementologists. Therefore, any auxiliary tools that will allow a person to use them and conduct testing on their own are extremely necessary. They will allow a person to verify themselves anonymously. People aged 55 and over will be able to undergo this check every year. Their younger relatives will have the opportunity to recommend that they get checked out in just 15 minutes," she added.
As Mikhail Bolkov, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of Aging of the Russian Gerontological Research and Clinical Center of the Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, explained to Izvestia, such models of cognitive age are a method for early detection of cognitive declines that can characterize the state of the central nervous system.
— For example, the Stroop test, which is part of the calculation algorithm proposed by scientists, is considered proven for assessing both the biological age of the nervous system and for early detection of symptoms associated with age-related diseases. The proposed model makes it possible to comprehensively assess cognitive abilities and identify not only human fatigue, which can be cured, say, by vacation, but also early signs of developing neurodegenerative processes," he said.
Cognitive age is a person's performance in tests of memory, attention, and information processing speed. If a 70-year-old performs tests like an average 60—year-old, his cognitive age is 60, explained Olga Valaeva, head of the Center for the Development of Digital Clinics at Moscow State University.
— Regular assessment of cognitive age is not just a diagnosis, but the first and most important step towards active, conscious management of one's cognitive health. When you are an architect and foreman yourself, striving to build a more durable and flexible brain for the future," the psychologist emphasized.
Olga Valaeva believes that the development of cognitive aging clocks can become the most important diagnostic tool for assessing cognitive age, along with biological markers of predictors of dementia and accumulated experience working with screening tools for cognitive aging.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
