Healthy cognitive ageing: Empowering older adults through self-testing

从50岁左右开始，人们的思维（“认知”）问题越来越多，五分之一的人会发展出诊断的认知障碍。在我们的老龄化人口中，越来越多的老年人在记忆力、注意力和多任务处理方面遇到了越来越严重的问题。如果得不到支持，这将日益影响日常生活。随着平均退休年龄的提高，老年人也无法继续从事技术工作。这影响了个人的活动和福祉，雇主失去了员工的关键技能和经验。因此，识别老年人的这些认知问题对于帮助他们获得支持，继续工作和充分享受生活至关重要。然而，NHS资源无法评估所有老年人的潜在认知变化。在这里，我们概述了一种识别认知问题的新方法，同时最大限度地减少对紧张的医疗资源的依赖。我们将为老年人开发一种在线认知测试，可以在家中自行管理，以测试和跟踪认知变化。该测试将使用简单的基于计算机的任务，这些任务已经被单独证明可以检测记忆，注意力和多任务处理的变化。这将使老年人能够独立地自我测试他们的认知，就像糖尿病患者检查血糖一样，而无需去专科诊所。该测试将产生对老年人，医疗保健专业人员和工作场所支持系统（如职业健康）有意义的结果。它将提供基于结果的建议，例如支持服务的路标，或使用实用的大脑训练和社交策略来帮助管理认知变化。我们的目标是使老年人能够监测自己的认知健康，并确定那些需要支持，以减少对他们的健康和工作的可避免的影响。

From around age 50, people experience increasing problems with thinking ("cognition"), and 1 in 5 go on to develop diagnosed cognitive impairment. In our ageing population, rising numbers of older people are experiencing worsening problems with memory, concentration, and multitasking. Without support, this increasingly affects day-to-day life. As average retirement age rises, it also prevents older adults from maintaining skilled work. This affects individuals' activity and wellbeing, and employers lose critical skills and experience from their workforce. Accordingly, identifying these cognitive problems in older adults is crucial to helping them access support, continue working, and fully enjoy life. However, NHS resources cannot assess all older adults for potential cognitive changes. Here, we outline a new approach to identifying cognitive problems, while minimising reliance on stretched healthcare resources.We will develop an online-access cognitive test for older adults, which can be self-administered at home to test and track cognitive changes. The test will use simple computer-based tasks which are already individually proven to detect changes in memory, concentration, and multi-tasking. This will allow older adults to independently self-test their cognition, as people with diabetes check their blood sugar, without attending specialist clinics.The test will produce results meaningful to the older person, healthcare professionals, and workplace support systems like occupational health. It will provide results-based recommendations, such as signposting to support services, or using practical, brain-training and social strategies to help manage cognitive changes. We aim to empower older adults to monitor their own cognitive wellbeing, and to identify those needing support to reduce avoidable impact on their wellbeing and work.