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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Connected Health
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1535900

Prospective observational study to evaluate the feasibility of the mobile app for mild cognitive impairment detection and screening

Provisionally accepted
Reo Hamaguchi Reo Hamaguchi 1*Seiji Hongo Seiji Hongo 2Naoto Doi Naoto Doi 3Hisamitsu Ide Hisamitsu Ide 1Ryozo Saito Ryozo Saito 4Junji Kishimoto Junji Kishimoto 5Nobuhiro Handa Nobuhiro Handa 1Shigeo Horie Shigeo Horie 1
  • 1 Department of Digital Therapeutics, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2 Nanko Clinic of Psychiatry, Fukushima, Japan
  • 3 Ichigaya Himorogi Clinic, Tokyo, Japan
  • 4 Life Quest Inc., Tokyo, Japan
  • 5 Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The increasing prevalence of dementia in aging populations necessitates effective and accessible cognitive screening tools. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of a newly developed mobile app for detecting and screening mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The app, developed by LifeQuest Co., Ltd. (Minato-ku, Tokyo), is an original tool inspired by the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J). It was evaluated in a prospective observational study involving 20 participants, including healthy individuals, MCI patients, and those with mild to moderate-severe dementia. The participants completed both the mobile app and the MoCA-J in a randomized order within a two-week period, with a minimum one-day interval between tests. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the mobile app and the MoCA-J was 0.956 (95% CI: 0.89 to 0.983), demonstrating a very high level of correlation. All participants successfully completed the mobile app assessment, highlighting its feasibility across various cognitive levels. Although minor technical issues and usability challenges were identified, the results support the mobile app as a reliable and user-friendly alternative for cognitive screening. Further studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to validate these findings and refine the app for broader clinical use.

    Keywords: Mobile app, smartphone app, Neuropsychological Tests, Cognitive Disorders, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's disease, Dementia

    Received: 28 Nov 2024; Accepted: 22 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Hamaguchi, Hongo, Doi, Ide, Saito, Kishimoto, Handa and Horie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Reo Hamaguchi, Department of Digital Therapeutics, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.