Feasibility and validation of a web-based platform for the self-administered patient collection of demographics, health status, anxiety, depression, and cognition in community dwelling elderly

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 19;16(1):e0244962. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244962. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease pandemic has brought a new urgency for the development and deployment of web-based applications which complement, and offer alternatives to, traditional one-on-one consultations and pencil-and-paper (PaP) based assessments that currently dominate clinical research. We have recently developed a web-based application that can be used for the self-administered collection of patient demographics, self-rated health, depression and anxiety, and cognition as part of a single platform. In this study we report the findings from a study with 155 cognitively healthy older adults who received established PaP versions, as well as our novel computerized measures of self-rated health, depression and anxiety, and cognition. Moderate to high correlations were observed between PaP and web- based measures of self-rated health (r = 0.77), depression and anxiety (r = 0.72), and preclinical Alzheimer's disease cognitive composite (PACC) (r = .61). Test-retest correlations were variable with high correlations for a measure of processing speed and a measure of delayed episodic memory. Taken together, these data support the feasibility and validity of utilization of this novel web-based platform as a new alternative for collecting patient demographics and the assessment of self-rated health, depression and anxiety, and cognition in the elderly.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Anxiety / diagnosis*
  • Anxiety / epidemiology
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / diagnosis*
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / epidemiology
  • Demography / statistics & numerical data
  • Depression / diagnosis*
  • Depression / epidemiology
  • Diagnostic Self Evaluation*
  • Female
  • Geriatric Assessment / methods*
  • Humans
  • Independent Living
  • Internet*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Telemedicine / methods*

Grants and funding

The study was funded by a contract from the Keller-Lamar Health Foundation (http://www.keller-lamar.org/) awarded to MC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.