Ready for your brain and cognitive measure health?

You know your weight. And your physical fitness. And a variety of health problems related metrics.

What is your brain?

In coming years we can expect an increasing number of evaluations of any help from us, the exact address the issue using the tools that are now only for researchers and clinicians, both opportunities and concerns raised.

Two recent announcements bring about major events in this direction:

A) announced last week, a OptumHealthexclusive contract for three years (estimated at $ 18m) with the Australian company Brain Resource.

Quote: "OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions will work with Brain Resource (medical knowledge with a Web-based assessment that measures how people process information in general) and social cognition (how people manage their emotions). The test is also 40 minutes speed based on known and validated tests of memory, attention, executive functions and response, and the atmosphere,social skills and emotional resilience. "

2) A couple of weeks ago we read that U.S. troops Get Cognitive Screening

Quote: "The military will begin giving cognitive tests this summer, the troops heading to war in an attempt to hurt a basic measure of their reaction time, memory, concentration and other brain functions that are referenced, which in this case could. "

I see these tools as a fundamental part of the brain fitness puzzle. NeuroimagingTechniques such as MRI and fMRI are very important to support research and clinical work, but are not yet mature or scalable enough to measure brain function in millions of healthy people. Neuropsychological testing is often done today with paper and pen, administered by a professional, and resource intensive.

brain researchers do not recognize a general "Brain Age" or "intelligence." We can our cognitive functions of the brain orSkills as a variety of skills, some of which related to the perception, more memory, has a bit 'in several languages, has a little' more visual, some more abstract thinking and planning-oriented. There is no general "brain age" that can be measured or trained in a meaningful way.

Now, using this new technology also raises concerns not only about their reliability and validity.

John Moore of Chilmark Research just commented on the Brain Resource OptumHealthAd, stressing that "health is well known that many chronic mental illnesses have a high co-morbidity factor, the partnership with Brain Resource, and the success (or lack thereof) will OptumHealth interesting. And while I applaud this effort also raises some concerns privacy rather scary. How these assessments will be used beyond the doctor's office? "What will have access to data OptumHealth As for theEmployers who OptumHealth parent, United Health Group as an insurance for their employees? If the employer wants access to these data, especially if they start embedding in HealthAtoZ? "

These questions are excellent. Humana, a health insurance company, which recently announced it had abandoned before the agreement with Posit Science, they were in the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program to its Medicare members. While a number of reasons wereoffered for the decision (to absorb low price scholarships, given the complexity of the legal approach to Medicare on low use of the product), was another concern, we mentioned a series of interviews with members of Humana: if you were worried a program that gave them free from their insurance company in some way to transmit data on the user's mental performance.

In addition, you can expect a strong policyImpact in this area. Art Kramer recently explained that "NIH is preparing an" NIH Toolbox "valid and reliable instruments available to researchers and doctors to the problem that now exists to solve, namely the lack of uniformity can be found on many measures. Must wait for The initiative was launched in 2006, and an effort five years, so let's see the results. "

One with a new tool, we need to define the rules of the road.

1) First of all we do,Measures to ensure that it is what it is, and with a high degree of reliability.

2) Secondly, there are clear guidelines are established, which can access data and for what purpose.

3) Finally, we expect that the assessments will lead to increase in profits personal recommendations, except for maintaining cognitive functions.

The question "Are You Ready to measure your Brain Fitness" can help sooner than we expect.

Copyright (c) 2008Sharp Brains