Chile, like other Latin American countries, is characterized by an accelerated increase in dementia prevalence. Early diagnosis is crucial to develop appropriate interventions. However, a large proportion of the Chilean population faces barriers in the access to neurocognitive assessment given the huge geographical disparities, high cost and administration time, and shortage of health professionals with expertise in dementia. The objective of this project is to adapt, extend, and validate in a Chilean aging sample the smartphone app Neureka (https://www.neureka.ie), which provides gamified neurocognitive tests and risk factor questionnaires that users complete without supervision. The app will be administered in participants with cognitive complaints, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and healthy controls. We will (a) perform a feasibility study, (b) validate the metrics of the app with standard neurocognitive tests and neuroimaging biomarkers, (c) build diagnostic algorithms, and (d) perform a health economic analysis. We aim to provide a scalable neurocognitive assessment tool for the Chilean population at risk, with the potential to expand to other regions of Latin America, to help reduce inequity in access to timely diagnosis and management of dementia.
PIs: Agustín Ibáñez, Claudia Durán-Aniotz, Sol Fittipaldi
Support: ANID / FONDEF IDeA I+D
