# Validation of the DCTclock drawing task as a cognitive screening tool for prodromal Alzheimers disease in the Framingham Heart Study

> **NIH NIH R21** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $160,660

## Abstract

Abstract. The diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has traditionally depended on fluid biomarkers
and neuroimaging. However, these tests are often invasive, expensive, and generally available only in specialty
clinics. Common neuropsychological tests used to screen for dementia (e.g., Mini-Mental State Examination) are
not sensitive enough to detect early cognitive changes that can predict the emergence of prodromal AD. The
DCTclockTM is an FDA approved digital neuropsychological test with the potential to be deployed in primary care
and clinical trials research as a non-invasive and cost-effective screening tool for detecting the earliest stages
of AD. The DCTclockTM can be easily administered by any healthcare professional and uses cutting-edge
methods to capture nuanced neuropsychological behavior. Initial studies suggest that the DCTclockTM has high
sensitivity to predict cortical amyloid (Aß) deposition and parietal hypometabolism on neuroimaging, suggesting
that it could serve as a surrogate for more invasive or costly biomarker testing. This project will validate the
DCTclockTM in a large sample of older adults from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), using cross sectional
and longitudinal approaches with the goals of determining: (1) the DCTclock’s ability to distinguishing mild
cognitive impairment (MCI) from normal aging relative to existing cognitive screening measures, (2) its
associations with genetic biomarkers of AD and neuroimaging measures of AD pathology, including MRI metrics
and brain Aß levels on a PET scan. DCTclockTM drawing data has been collected in the FHS since 2011 from
over 1,600 older adults without dementia, making it an ideal database for this validation study.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10490305
- **Project number:** 5R21AG072588-02
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Louisa Thompson
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $160,660
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10490305

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10490305, Validation of the DCTclock drawing task as a cognitive screening tool for prodromal Alzheimers disease in the Framingham Heart Study (5R21AG072588-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10490305. Licensed CC0.

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