COGEVIS: A New Scale to Evaluate Cognition in Patients with Visual Deficiency

TL;DR

This study introduces COGEVIS, a new short assessment tool designed to evaluate cognition in visually impaired patients, demonstrating high specificity and utility in screening for cognitive impairment within this population.

Contribution

The paper presents the development and validation of COGEVIS, a novel cognitive screening scale specifically adapted for patients with severe visual deficits.

Findings

COGEVIS score cutoff of 24 effectively screens for cognitive impairment

Visual rehabilitation improved daily living activities and mood scores

COGEVIS showed high specificity (95%) in identifying cognitive impairment

Abstract

We evaluated the cognitive status of visually impaired patients referred to low vision rehabilitation (LVR) based on a standard cognitive battery and a new evaluation tool, named the COGEVIS, which can be used to assess patients with severe visual deficits. We studied patients aged 60 and above, referred to the LVR Hospital in Paris. Neurological and cognitive evaluations were performed in an expert memory center. Thirty-eight individuals, 17 women and 21 men with a mean age of 70.3 $\pm$ 1.3 years and a mean visual acuity of 0.12 $\pm$ 0.02, were recruited over a one-year period. Sixty-three percent of participants had normal cognitive status. Cognitive impairment was diagnosed in 37.5% of participants. The COGEVIS score cutoff point to screen for cognitive impairment was 24 (maximum score of 30) with a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 95%. Evaluation following 4 months of visual rehabilitation showed an improvement of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (p = 0 004), National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (p = 0 035), and Montgomery-{\AA}sberg Depression Rating Scale (p = 0 037). This study introduces a new short test to screen for cognitive impairment in visually impaired patients.