Health and Disability

For the first time, researchers have determined that a brief, simple number naming test can differentiate between cognitively healthy elderly individuals and cognitively impaired people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), including those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as well as those with AD dementia. The study appears online in the journal Alzheimer's Disease and Associated Disorders, and was conducted by researchers at Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center (BU ADC), with collaborators from Harvard Medical School and New York University School of Medicine.

AD can only be definitively diagnosed through postmortem examination of brain tissue. However, in recent years, the diagnosis of AD during life has become more accurate through the use of objective biological tests, including advanced brain scans and measures of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid and blood, in addition to lengthy formal cognitive evaluations. Prior to ordering these tests, clinicians, such as primary care physicians, must determine a patient's level of cognitive functioning to decide who may benefit from these relatively expensive and often invasive tests.

The King-Devick (K-D) test is a one- to two-minute rapid number naming test that has previously been found useful in the detection of concussion, as well as in detecting level of impairment in other neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. The K-D test can be quickly administered by non-professional office staff on either a tablet (iPad) or in a paper version.