How you hold your pen could provide information about your risk of Alzheimer’s
How you write or draw can provide information about the cognitive state of your brain
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Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and is currently incurable. However, if the neurological disorder is diagnosed early, therapies can alleviate the course. Researchers have now recognized a possibly revolutionary early diagnosis method.
B75 percent of all dementia patients have not yet been diagnosed as such – according to neurologists at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The incurable disorder of the brain is treacherous: in the most common form of Alzheimer’s disease, nerve cells in the brain gradually die off. As a result, those affected become increasingly forgetful, confused and disoriented.
If the dementia can be detected at an early stage, the chances are at least slightly better to slow down and counteract the deterioration of the nerve cells with appropriate therapies. Researchers all over the world are therefore working to develop more precise diagnostic options for the disease.
One of them could be a writing and drawing test, like Japanese medical professionals University of Tsukuba found in a study. They examined 92 participants between the ages of 65 and 98 from the USA and Japan. They published their results in the journal “JMIR Formative Research“.
A simple writing and drawing test could provide information about the cognitive abilities of the brain
Based on the results of previous studies, doctors suspect that there could be a connection between the way people draw and possible cognitive decline, explains study leader Professor Tetsuaki Arai in a press release. So far, however, most tests have only been limited to a few tasks and are imprecise. Therefore, Professor Arai and his colleagues set out to develop a more accurate diagnostic drawing test.
Although it is clear that movement and pause-related character features can be used to screen for cognitive impairment, most screening tests remain relatively imprecise.
The researchers carried out the test with a tablet
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This is how the Alzheimer’s test went
In the newly developed test, the 92 individuals were asked to complete complex drawing and writing tasks on a tablet. The researchers analyzed 22 different characteristics of their drawing technique: such as the pressure with which the pen is held and the pressure of the pen on the writing surface, how many pauses are made when drawing, how they hold the pen and also the speed at which they draw becomes. In addition, the participants had to complete an already recognized test for diagnosing dementia, the so-called Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
The results were then fed into an artificial intelligence machine learning model to create a scale between “normal cognition”, “mild cognitive impairment” and “Alzheimer’s disease”. The assessment of a possible risk of Alzheimer’s is therefore dependent on many factors and can only be finally clarified by a specialist.
The diagnosis of early-stage Alzheimer’s is not always obvious
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Analysis of the results showed that people with a lower cognitive index on the scale showed greater variability in their drawing speed and the way they held the pen. They also took more breaks from drawing. The differences between people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s patients were larger than between subjects with normal cognitive impairment and those with mild impairment. This could indicate that the test could even be used as an early warning sign for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.
Will an online test to diagnose dementia be possible in the future?
The researchers point out that the study involved only a relatively small number of participants. However, the results are very striking and would provide clear indications, the researchers write in their study. You could even imagine that some kind of online self-assessment could be created using the results.
To do this, however, a program must first be developed that collects the data from these test results anonymously and can thus provide long-term information about the course of the disease – and consequently improves the quality of life of future Alzheimer’s patients because their disease was detected earlier.
Sufficient exercise and social contacts can slow down the progression of dementia
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Researchers are still researching a cure for Alzheimer’s. However, people should already focus on avoiding risk factors for possible dementia. An overall healthy lifestyle and diet, social mobility, i.e. meeting other people, and sufficient exercise are of primary help.
In addition to the way you write and draw, looking into your eyes could also help to identify dementia early:
