The issue
Dementia is a global health problem affecting millions of elderly people. Existing pharmacological treatment produce only short-term benefits, whereas early diagnosis of dementia can identify people at risk for complications, allowing possible interventions and better planning in advance. Current screening approach in the community settings is labour-intensive, involving conventional questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Innovative supporting tools are needed to relieve the workload of disease management and monitoring.
The solution
The team developed a cost-effective digital dementia screening platform to be used with minimum supervision and even self-administered for dementia screening. Users need only to draw a simple diagram, which is captured digitally and analysed by machine learning techniques to determine the users’ conditions – whether further check-up is necessary. This project aims to promote the screening platform through educational talks to the elderly, their caregivers and social workers alike, who will then be able to use the tool.
Impact
Elderly people, with the support of their caregivers, learn to perform screening on a regular basis and monitor their cognitive performance continuously. They get access to help once signs are detected. The project sees an increase in acceptance towards digital health over traditional paper-and-pencil tools.
Beneficiaries
– 300 elderly
– 250 caregivers and interested public members
Project Team
Kelvin is a digital epidemiologist with a solid background in evidence-based medicine and big-data research for healthcare applications. His research covers non-communicable diseases for ageing population, including cancer, hypertension, and cognitive impairment. He established DeepHealth in 2018 to deliver innovative healthcare solutions. HealthCap is a blood pressure management platform developed by his team to encourage regular blood pressure monitoring in the public for disease prevention.
Adrian is a clinical psychologist at the Hong Kong Psychological Society who is well-versed with cognitive assessment. His major research changes the landscape of cognitive impairment and assessment in Hong Kong and beyond. He has also developed computerized methods for quick screening of cognitive impairment in the community and clinical settings. Further, his intervention programme with music therapy won him the Best Dementia Care Programme Award in 2014. Adrian received his PhD in Clinical Neurology from CUHK.
