Reliability of Repeated Cognitive Assessment of Dementia Using a Brief Computerized Battery

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term stability and reliability of a brief computerized cognitive battery in established dementia types. METHOD: Patients were administered the computerized battery twice with administrations approximately 2 hours apart, with intervening conventional neuropsychological tests. Patients were classified clinically, via consensus conference, as healthy controls (n = 23), mild cognitive impairment (n = 20), Alzheimer's disease (n = 52), dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB, n = 10), or frontotemporal dementia (n = 9). RESULTS: Minimal practice effects were evident across Cog-State test administrations. Small magnitude improvements were seen across all groups on a working memory task, and healthy controls showed a mild practice effect on the accuracy of associative learning. CONCLUSIONS: In established dementia, administration of the CogState tasks appears sensitive to cognitive impairment in dementia. Repeat administration also provided acceptable stability and test-retest reliability with minimal practice effects at short test-retest intervals despite intervening cognitive challenges.