Alzheimer’s Society and Oxford University have launched an app that promises to detect Alzheimer’s disease more quickly.
Someone in the UK develops dementia every three minutes, but a third of cases are undiagnosed.
The new brain games app, called GameChanger, tests specific aspects of memory and thinking that are affected in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The charity is calling on the public to download the app and play the games for five minutes a day, every day for a month, so that researchers can see how people usually perform. This will later help them to see the warning signs of Alzheimer’s.
It is hoped the app can eventually be used to find people in the very early stages of the disease and develop new treatments to stop it in its tracks.
Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said a million people in the UK will have dementia by 2021, and if they can get a diagnosis quickly and accurately that will help them to live well with the disease.
“Dementia is the only one of the top 10 killers that we can’t cure, prevent or even slow down, so we urgently need to better understand this devastating disease,” he added.