Validity of the MemTrax Memory Test Compared to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in the Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia due to Alzheimer's Disease in a Chinese Cohort

 

Xiaolei Liu, Xinjie Chen , Xianbo Zhou , Yajun Shang, Fan Xu , Junyan Zhang, Jingfang He, Feng Zhao, Bo Du, Xuan Wang, Qi Zhang, Weishan Zhang, Michael F Bergeron, Tao Ding, J Wesson Ashford, Lianmei Zhong

• PMID: 33646151
• DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200936

Abstract

 

Background: A valid, reliable, accessible, engaging, and affordable digital cognitive screen instrument for clinical use is in urgent demand.

 

Objective: To assess the clinical utility of the MemTrax memory test for early detection of cognitive impairment in a Chinese cohort.

 

Methods: The 2.5-minute MemTrax and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were performed by 50 clinically diagnosed cognitively normal (CON), 50 mild cognitive impairment due to AD (MCI-AD), and 50 Alzheimer's disease (AD) volunteer participants. The percentage of correct responses (MTx-% C), the mean response time (MTx-RT), and the composite scores (MTx-Cp) of MemTrax and the MoCA scores were comparatively analyzed and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves generated.

 

Results: Multivariate linear regression analyses indicated MTx-% C, MTx-Cp, and the MoCA score were significantly lower in MCI-AD versus CON and in AD versus MCI-AD groups (all with p≤0.001). For the differentiation of MCI-AD from CON, an optimized MTx-% C cutoff of 81% had 72% sensitivity and 84% specificity with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.839, whereas the MoCA score of 23 had 54% sensitivity and 86% specificity with an AUC of 0.740. For the differentiation of AD from MCI-AD, MTx-Cp of 43.0 had 70% sensitivity and 82% specificity with an AUC of 0.799, whereas the MoCA score of 20 had 84% sensitivity and 62% specificity with an AUC of 0.767.

 

Conclusion: MemTrax can effectively detect both clinically diagnosed MCI and AD with better accuracy as compared to the MoCA based on AUCs in a Chinese cohort. Validity of the MemTrax Memory Test has been established.

 

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; cognitive assessment instrument; continuous recognition task paradigm; mild cognitive impairment.