Measuring Cognitive Function
Science can only advance as far as we can accurately measure, and this applies to healthcare as well. There are lots of lab values that we can obtain to get a better picture of your overall health, if we are concerned about your diabetes your blood sugar can now be tracked 24/7. Some things in healthcare are not as easy to measure though, depression, pain, anxiety these are all subjective issues that are highly dependent upon patient perception. The murkier the measurements the harder these conditions are to properly treat and the potential increases for that treatment to go awry. The traditional pain scale is a good example of a vague and practically useless metric.
Perhaps nothing is harder to measure than cognitive ability. As we age our mental faculties decline and diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia become more and more prevalent. Brain fog has become an increasingly popular term as long covid spreads throughout the population with patients reporting decreases in executive function. The pharmacy is usually the first to notice these issues because managing multiple medications for these patients becomes an increasingly impossible task. Unfortunately, by the time friends, family, or the pharmacy are noticing these issues it may be too late. Identifying and treating cognitive impairment early and aggressively is key to preserving what brain function remains. You may think that this is only for the elderly but that is not the case. Concussions and head trauma in sports is another great reason to have a baseline test like this on file. Currently the Miami Dolphins are dealing with a sad situation which has resulted in their star quarterback being injured after multiple concussions. The physician who cleared him to play has now been fired. I cannot help but think that better testing has the potential to better quantify damage from head trauma to avoid incidents like this in the future.
To help in this endeavor Williamsburg Drug has purchased a new testing device to offer patients called the Cognivue Thrive. This test is designed to measure three domains memory, visuospatial, and executive function. It also provides two metrics to measure your cognitive speed and performance. The test only takes a few minutes to complete and is a standard part of our health checkup consultations. If you would like to come in and check it out, you can schedule a consult at williamsburgdrug.com
Example of test results
Jacob Hyatt Pharm D.
Father of three, Husband, Pharmacist, Realtor, Landlord, Independent Health, and Medicine Reporter
https://substack.com/discover/pharmacoconuts
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Further reading and references
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/long-covid-brain-fog-symptom-executive-function/671393/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34327120/
https://www.wjgnet.com/2220-3206/full/v10/i1/1.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5993067/
https://www.cognivue.com/product-tour/cognivue-thrive/
