The outlook for patients with Alzheimer’s disease relies on receiving an early and correct diagnosis, which is key to starting the appropriate treatment. For many families, the current methods of diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease available today are too expensive and unattainable, considering the time-consuming diagnostic procedures. In addition, current assessment tests are not always able to detect the disease at its earliest stages. 

The average cost of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is around $5,000, while the average time taken out of someone\’s day to receive that diagnosis is approximately five hours. The number of patients who remain without a diagnosis worldwide is about 50% to 80%. With Cognes, we can help ensure that every family will have access to the possibility of an early diagnosis. 

Current Diagnosis Tests

Currently, the tests administered to diagnose Alzheimer’s can be time-consuming, invasive, and unreliable. An essential part of diagnosing Alzheimer’s is for the patient to accurately explain the symptoms to a doctor as well as present an outside perspective from close friends or family members. 

For many patients, expensive laboratory tests and brain-imaging techniques are needed to rule out other causes of memory-related health problems. Many patients will receive different neurological and physical exams, including reflexes, sight and hearing tests, balance, and coordination.

Blood samplings can rule out some causes of common symptoms, such as confusion and memory loss. Brain imaging can be used to point out any abnormalities that are not otherwise caused by the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Nevertheless, Alzheimer’s disease is still difficult to diagnose with complete accuracy until post-mortem, when sampling tests of the brain can be examined. 

Assessment tests can be expensive and time-consuming. This is especially true when so many people all over the world do not have access to health insurance and are left undiagnosed and unattended. So what is the solution?

What is Cognes?

Cognes is the future of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. We are developing an Alzheimer’s test that is both non-invasive and self-administered by the patient. Cognes works with machine learning-based analysis that works with a combination of facial images and cognitive assessments. The entire test is administered through a smartphone app. 

How does Cognes Work?

Cognes uses machine learning-based analysis. The app can analyze any given patient’s likelihood of having symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The app does this using both cognitive or cerebral tests and facial features, along with the changes of these facial features over time. Cognes had a pilot study that confirmed the usefulness of this technology in early 2020, with over 1,300 subjects. 

Many features of the face and head have a plethora of information that is observable in terms of the development of dementia going on inside the brain. Cognes analyses these facial images in combination with the data from the cognitive assessments that the patient takes over time. Impaired social cognition can already be observed in mild Alzheimer’s disease cases, and AI has been used to identify cognitive impairment using images of faces. 

The physical changes in the brain caused by Alzheimer’s can appear externally on the facial features more than fifteen years before any cognitive symptoms begin. The cognitive assessments used with Cognes are specifically designed to have more sensitivity to symptoms found in early Alzheimer’s disease. This allows Cognes to explore the nuances found in different types of dementia and various stages of Alzheimer’s. 

Why use Cognes?

Cognes has a series of competitive benefits when put to the test against your traditional screening process for Alzheimer’s disease. One only needs to imagine how simplifying the future of Alzheimer’s diagnosis could benefit both patients and doctors. 

Screening

As it is now, there is no way to remotely screen for Alzheimer’s, and many of the tests for diagnosis are time-consuming for both doctor and patient. With Cognes, home screening is suddenly opened up to patients. This allows patients to screen independently without having to take the time out of their day to run the usual gamut of tests. 

Reducing Costs

Running these expensive diagnostic tests can put a heavy financial burden on the healthcare system. With Cognes, these tests will no longer be needed except at the doctor\’s discretion. Cognes is designed to work with both patients and doctors to access a highly accurate and early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease without expensive tests. Not to mention, Cognes will be beneficial for those patients for whom the cost of tests is a barrier to diagnosis. 

Early Diagnosis

For many families, receiving an Alzheimer’s diagnosis comes after there’s already been a significant impairment to their loved one’s cognitive function. Cognes focuses on pinpointing Alzheimer’s disease in patients as early as possible. This early diagnostic tool helps both families and doctors have a better idea of how to treat their patients moving forward.

Highly Scalable

The cost-efficiency of Cognes means that healthcare systems that implement this diagnostic tool will quickly see a return on their investment. Because of its design as an app and its use of AI technology, the start-up costs of using Cognes are easily recovered. With more patients receiving a diagnosis at a lower cost, more will start treatment. 

Conclusion

Current Alzheimer’s disease assessment tests are expensive for both the patient and health provider and are time-consuming for both families and doctors. Cognes is the future of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, with tested AI technology that can pinpoint a diagnosis earlier than current assessments allow. 

Cognes benefits the workflow of the hospital. Doctors will be able to arrange at-home tests for patients, and patients will be able to track their Alzheimer’s tests around their own schedule. The cost-efficiency of Cognes testing will allow hospitals to do away with expensive Alzheime’s tests and enable more patients to have better access to diagnosis. 

With Cognes , the number of people in the world who are suffering without an Alzheimer’s diagnosis can plummet from that high 80% number. The goal is to make diagnosis accessible to anyone and relieving the burdens of the health care systems.