Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong YK (1), Ma SY (1), Leung WY (1), Wu A (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Occupational Therapy, Caritas Medical Centre
Introduction :
Occupational therapists play a significant role in assessing the cognitive and functional ability for clients. HKBC was a new cognitive assessment developed locally in 2018. It targeted for elderly with low education level.
Objectives :
HKBC was performed in Occupational Therapy Out-patient Services as cognitive assessment.
Methodology :
Retrospective data of 281 patients was reviewed from January 2019 to October 2020. Performance of HK-MoCA and HKBC were analyzed.
Result & Outcome :
281 patients aged from 65 to 97 (mean=81.6) with education from illiterate to tertiary level were assessed by HKBC and HK-MoCA. Majority were aged 80 or above (64.8%) and studied 6 years or below (77.6%). Mean scores of HKBC and HK-MoCA were 11.5 and 10.2 respectively. There was a very strong and positive correlation between HKBC and HK-MoCA when analyzed with Pearson correlation test (r=0.894, p=0.01) in different age groups (age 65-69, 70-79 and 80 or above) and education level (6 years or below and 7 years or above). Higher correlation was found in younger age group (r=0.943 for age 65-69 & r=0.904 for age 70-79, p=0.01) and higher education group (r=0.904, p=0.01). 210 patients (74.7%) were diagnosed as major neurocognitive disorder (NCD), 37 (13.2%) were diagnosed as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Among the patients with diagnosis (87.9%), 85.0% matched with the results of HKBC while 71.3% of patients matched with the results of HK-MoCA. Over 90% diagnosed as NCD were classified as cognitive impaired in HKBC. For patients aged 80 or above and educated 6 years or below, 87.9% matched with the results of HKBC while 72.5% matched with HK-MoCA. For patients aged below 80 with education 7 years or above, 83.3% matched with the result of HKBC, while 66.7% matched with HK-MoCA. From the review, HKBC and HK-MoCA showed significant and strong positive correlation in comparison of ages and education. Both HKBC and HK-MoCA (>80% vs >70%) showed high accuracy in screening cognitive deficit in all groups. With lower demand on paper and pencil tasks, less administration time and less resistance from patients, HKBC is suggested to be an alternative cognitive screening tool especially for elderly with low educational level or illiterate patients.