Leveraging Digital Technology to Enhance Early Prevention of Dementia in Developing Regions: Cognitive Impairment Screening Program in Hainan

Aging populations are associated with a higher prevalence of dementia, imposing significant burdens on health care systems and society. Early screening is key to enhancing public awareness and to identifying mild cognitive impairment, an early stage of dementia, to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment. Developing countries and regions face greater challenges in dementia prevention, with lower rates of early screening and a shortage of health care personnel. It is imperative to empower health care professionals to promote medical efficiency, particularly at the primary level, by harnessing digital technologies. Hainan Province initiated the Cognitive Impairment Screening Program for older adults in 2022 by utilizing digital tools in cognitive risk assessment for older adults 60 years of age and older. It constructed a multitiered network, delivered standardized training to primary care personnel, promoted health education about dementia, and initiated the development of a referral system. It enabled primary care personnel to conduct cognitive screening rapidly, and the participant was provided with a risk-assessment report. In 2022, this program trained approximately 3,000 health care professionals and implementers, covering 240,904 older individuals across 18 cities and counties in Hainan, which, to the authors' knowledge, was the largest digital screening program in a single year for a province in China. The program greatly enhanced the capacity and efficiency of cognitive impairment screening and the awareness of cognitive impairments because of its high coverage; the data indicate an initial increase in medical visits related to cognitive impairments. Preliminary observations suggest that the model of cognitive impairment screening programs driven by local governments, enhanced by network construction, and assisted with digital tools is feasible and effective in developing regions. In the long term, an integrated screening model holds potential and is expected to address the challenge of a shortage of health care professionals for dementia, especially in low- and middle-income countries and regions.