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INTRODUCTION: We describe the development and feasibility of using an online consensus approach for diagnosing cognitive impairment and dementia in rural South Africa. METHODS: Cognitive assessments, clinical evaluations, and informant interviews from Cognition and Dementia in the Health and Aging in Africa Longitudinal Study (HAALSI Dementia) were reviewed by an expert panel using a web-based platform to assign a diagnosis of cognitively normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-five participants were assigned a final diagnostic category, with 298 requiring adjudication conference calls. Overall agreement between each rater's independent diagnosis and final diagnosis (via the portal or consensus conference) was 78.3%. A moderate level of agreement between raters' individual ratings and the final diagnostic outcomes was observed (average κ coefficient = 0.50). DISCUSSION: Findings show initial feasibility in using an online consensus approach for the diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia in remote, rural, and low-resource settings.
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OBJECTIVES: To introduce cost-effective expert clinical diagnoses of dementia into population-based research using an online platform and to demonstrate their validity against in-person clinical assessment and diagnosis. DESIGN: The online platform provides standardized data necessary for clinicians to rate participants on the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR® ). Using this platform, clinicians diagnosed 60 patients at a range of CDR levels at two clinical sites. The online consensus diagnosis was compared with in-person clinical consensus diagnosis. SETTING: All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty patients each at AIIMS and NIMHANS with equal numbers of patients previously independently rated in person by experts as CDR is 0 (cognitively normal), CDR is 0.5 (mild cognitive impairment), and CDR is 1 or greater (dementia). MEASUREMENTS: Multiple clinicians independently rate each participant on each CDR domain using standardized data and expert clinical judgment. The overall summary CDR is calculated by algorithm. When there are discrepancies among clinician ratings, clinicians discuss the case through a virtual consensus conference and arrive at a consensus overall rating. RESULTS: Online clinical consensus diagnosis based on standardized interview data provides consistent clinical diagnosis with in-person clinical assessment and consensus diagnosis (κ coefficient = 0.76). CONCLUSION: A web-based clinical consensus platform built on the Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India interview data is a cost-effective way to obtain reliable expert clinical judgments. A similar approach can be used for other epidemiological studies of dementia. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:S54-S59, 2020.