People's interest in brain health testing: Findings from an international, online cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Brain health entails mental wellbeing and cognitive health in the absence of brain disorders. The past decade has seen an explosion of tests, cognitive and biological, to predict various brain conditions, such as Alzheimer's Disease. In line with these current developments, we investigated people's willingness and reasons to—or not to—take a hypothetical brain health test to learn about risk of developing a brain disease, in a cross-sectional multilanguage online survey. The survey was part of the Global Brain Health Survey, open to the public from 4th June 2019 to 31st August 2020. Respondents were largely recruited via European brain councils and research organizations. 27,590 people responded aged 18 years or older and were predominantly women (71%), middle-aged or older (>40 years; 83%), and highly educated (69%). Responses were analyzed to explore the relationship between demographic variables and responses.ResultsWe found high public interest in brain health testing: over 91% would definitely or probably take a brain health test and 86% would do so even if it gave information about a disease that cannot be treated or prevented. The main reason for taking a test was the ability to respond if one was found to be at risk of brain disease, such as changing lifestyle, seeking counseling or starting treatment. Higher interest in brain health testing was found in men, respondents with lower education levels and those with poor self-reported cognitive health.ConclusionHigh public interest in brain health and brain health testing in certain segments of society, coupled with an increase of commercial tests entering the market, is likely to put pressure on public health systems to inform the public about brain health testing in years to come.

Stakeholder engagement in European brain research: Experiences of the Lifebrain consortium

“…The survey attracted 27,590 respondents across 81 countries within 14 months of availability. 24 Stakeholders also contributed to reviewing and interpreting aggregate survey results and writing scientific papers 24,25 and public reports describing survey results. 26,27 F I G U R E 1 Stakeholder activities in Lifebrain along the project.…”

The Real-World Usability, Feasibility, and Performance Distributions of Deploying a Digital Toolbox of Computerized Assessments to Remotely Evaluate Brain Health: Development and Usability Study

“…There is strong public interest in brain health evaluation, with 9 of 10 citizens expressing an interest in understanding how their brain is functioning [ 1 ]. Best practices for remote cognitive and behavioral assessment established by the Alzheimer Society of Canada Task Force [ 2 ] and jointly by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology and the National Academy of Neuropsychology [ 3 ] recommend that assessments be normed and validated; usable; agnostic to demographic variables such as level of education, race and ethnicity, and gender; and supported by a secure and reliable technical platform.…”