An AI-assisted Online Tool for Cognitive Impairment Detection Using Images from the Clock Drawing Test

Abstract

Abstract Background Widespread early dementia detection could drastically increase clinical trial candidates and enable early interventions. Since the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) can be potentially used for diagnosing dementia related diseases, it can be leveraged to devise a computer-aided screening tool. Objective This work aims to develop an online screening tool by leveraging Artificial Intelligence and the CDT. Methods Images of an analog clock drawn by 3, 263 cognitively intact and 160 impaired subjects were used. First, we processed the images from the CDT by a deep learning algorithm to obtain dementia scores. Then, individuals were classified as belonging to either category by combining CDT image scores with the participant’s age. Results We have evaluated the performance of the developed models by applying 5-fold cross validation on 20% of the dataset. The deep learning model generates dementia scores for the CDT images with an Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 81.3% ± 4.3%. A composite logistic regression model using age and the generated dementia scores, yielded an average AUC and average weighted F1 score of 92% ± 0.8% and 94.4% ± 0.7%, respectively. Discussion CDT images were subjected to distortion consistent with an image drawn on paper and photographed by a cell phone. The model offers a cost-effective and easily deployable mechanism for detecting cognitive impairment online, without the need to visit a clinic.