Pen and paper tests are often used by a physician to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and require the individual to draw a shape such as a star or a clock pointer.
The way you hold the pen may indicate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study. With Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, a person slowly loses his memory and ability to perform daily tasks. There are, however, some early signs in a person’s behavior that can signal a possible imminent diagnosis, from poor parking to a change of mood.
Pen and paper tests are often used by a physician to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and require the individual to draw a shape, such as a star or a clock pointer, from memory. The less able he is to do so, the more likely he is to suffer from dementia.
Researchers from Tsukuba University Japan have now discovered other marks on pen and paper tests that could have appeared much earlier. They studied 144 people, with different levels of cognitive ability, including some with dementia and some who were perfectly healthy.
Participants underwent five different design tests on pen pressure, posture, speed, and how often a person paused.
The researchers then compared these features and used a computer-based program to see how well the design features could be used to identify people with or without normal intellect. Some of the patients had a mild cognitive impairment (MCI), meaning when someone has a memory loss a little worse than aging, but not as severe as dementia.
The researchers were able to identify those suffering from MCI or Alzheimer’s by the way they planned. These individuals had greater variability in pen pressure, meaning that some lines were smooth and strong, while others were weak and unstable. They also made more pauses and their speed was slower.
Professor Tetsuaki Arai, lead author of the study, said: “Although it is clear that design features related to movement and pause can be used to control cognitive impairment, most control tests remain relatively inaccurate. We wondered what could happen if we analyzed these features while people were performing a series of different design tasks». Alzheimer’s disease affects about 1 in 14 people over the age of 65 and 1 in 6 people over the age of 80.
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