Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Finding low-cost methods to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a research priority for neuroprotective drug development. Presymptomatic Alzheimer’s is associated with gait impairment but hand motor tests, which are more accessible, have hardly been investigated. This study evaluated how home-based Tasmanian (TAS) Test keyboard tapping tests predict episodic memory performance.
METHODS
1169 community participants (65.8 ± 7.4 years old; 73% female) without cognitive symptoms completed online single-key and alternate-key tapping tests and episodic memory, working memory, and executive function cognitive tests.
RESULTS
All single-key (R
2
adj = 8.8%, ΔAIC = 5.2) and alternate-key (R
2
adj = 9.1%, ΔAIC = 8.8) motor features predicted episodic memory performance relative to demographic and mood confounders only (R
2
adj = 8.1%). No tapping features improved estimation of working memory.
DISCUSSION
Brief self-administered online hand movement tests predict asymptomatic episodic memory impairment. This provides a potential low-cost home-based method for stratification of enriched cohorts.
Highlights
We devised two brief online keyboard tapping tests to assess hand motor function.
1169 cognitively asymptomatic adults completed motor- and cognitive tests online.
Impaired hand motor function predicted reduced episodic memory performance.
This brief self-administered test may aid stratification of community cohorts.
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This post is Copyright: Xinyi Wang,
Rebecca J. St George,
Aidan D. Bindoff,
Alastair J. Noyce,
Katherine Lawler,
Eddy Roccati,
Larissa Bartlett,
Son N. Tran,
James C. Vickers,
Quan Bai,
Jane Alty | July 31, 2023