Evaluation of a novel tablet/game-based diagnostic support tool for the early detection of autism

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Autism spectrum disorders affect 2% of children across the UK, and 1% of the global population. Children with ASD require ongoing support from educational, healthcare and social systems. This amounts to £3.1 billion each year. Per family, lifelong support costs are £1 million.Earlier diagnoses can significantly improve long-term outcomes for patients and reduce ongoing systemic and familial support costs -- by making it possible to introduce interventions earlier. However, 78% of children referred for autism assessments did not have a first appointment recorded in Q4 FY2020/2021\. Only 12% began the assessment process within 13 weeks.When parents of children with ASD are asked about their experiences, they say: "\[I\] had to put up with all the fights and battles and it took 4 years for a diagnosis," and "I feel if we had not pushed past the teacher to get an assessment done... both of my kids could have fallen through the cracks quite easily."These challenges exist in part because: there are differences in the behavioural expression of autism due to sex (i.e. the female autism phenotype); ethnic/racial disparities in reporting concerns about ASD leading to later diagnosis in some groups; and bottlenecks exist within public health services due to rising demand.As a small, experienced, credible and trusted technology company, Brightlobe meets the needs of patients and healthcare providers through an innovative medical device that facilitates earlier diagnosis of ASD and continuous monitoring of patients.Brightlobe's device integrates novel neuropsychological tasks, immersive technologies and machine learning for a highly-sensitive diagnostic support tool. Long-term, it is designed to meet the existing healthcare challenge by improving accessibility to ASD assessments; enabling remote monitoring; and enhancing diagnostic sensitivity thereby improving outcomes for the child.This tool will potentially reduce associated public healthcare costs by 68% and private patient costs by 84%.The technology is being co-developed with patient focus groups, leading UK/US developmental-behavioural paediatricians and commercial partners.The feasibility of the tool has already been confirmed alongside a SEND (special educational needs and disabilities centre) in a North London school. To move into the next stage of technology readiness, we must now conduct a preliminary technical evaluation.This project is designed to establish a baseline for performance on the assessment, examines its psychometric properties, and explore its utility as a tool to discover biomarkers for ASD.