The Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) is a widely used digital cognitive test battery found to be sensitive to AD-related changes in cognition (decline and improvement) in both clinical studies and clinical trials.
The CBB was originally designed with goals around brevity, sensitivity to change, and avoiding type 1 error. Its intent was as a quick assessment to indicate a patient’s cognition had changed over time.
Speaking on the continued use and evolution of the CBB, Prof. Paul Maruff—Cogstate Chief Innovation Officer and Co-founder—notes, “With the widespread success of the battery, researchers also began to try and identify cognitive impairment using the CBB. However, the tests as they were designed just weren’t able to do that very well, especially in mild cognitive impairment (MCI).”
Maruff continues, “To address this, we went back to our battery and the normative data we have from decades of testing. We looked at the outcomes of different test combinations and different test ordering using several statistical analysis tools to inform us on which tests provide the greatest sensitivity to MCI as well as dementia.”
At the 2023 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC), Prof. Maruff shared data providing a strong basis for the use of the CBB in clinical decision-making contexts and confirming patterns of testing that correlated better with MCI. We invite you to read the poster and data here.
Now, when asked by our clinical partners, we will be able to confidently say that the CBB can also recognize cognitive impairment.” – Paul Maruff
Also at AAIC, Prof. Maruff shared data looking at the relationship between the CBB and Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. Analysis was done from a large, completely remote study that included life factors like mood, sleep, diet, and exercise.
Maruff noted, “the poster summarized a field we’re calling ‘emerging Alzheimer’s disease’, showing that poor performance on the Cogstate tests is associated with increased levels of biomarkers for tau in people aged 50 to 60, confirming the notion that Alzheimer’s begins in your 50s.”
Indeed, data show that the CBB (even taken remotely) was associated with AD disease markers and with in-clinic cognitive status. This indicates remote assessment of cognition could provide a valuable tool for managing AD in community settings.