A Web-Based Application for Screening Alzheimer's Disease in the Preclinical Phase

As a result of an increasing elderly population, the number of people with age-related diseases is increasing worldwide. Alzheimer's disease is thus becoming an emergency health and social problem. Neuropsychological evaluation and biomarker identification represent the two main approaches to identifying subjects with Alzheimer's. In this paper, we propose a web application designed to be sensitive to the cognitive changes distinctive of the early Mild Cognitive Impairment, which is a condition in which someone experiences minor cognitive problems, and the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease. The application is conceived to be self-administered in a comfortable and non-stressful environment. It was designed to be quick to administer, automatic to score, and able to preserve privacy because of the highly sensitive data collected. The preliminary evaluation of the application was done by enrolling 518 subjects characterised by several risk factors and the presence of a family history, which underwent standard neuropsychological screening.