Digital geriatric self-assessment-A narrative review

Background Digital health apps have a large potential for autonomous screening and monitoring of older people with respect to maintaining their independence. Due to demographic change and the shortage of specialized personnel in medicine, these premedical self-assessment apps could be of great value in the future. Objective This narrative review enables the assessment of whether a digital geriatric self-assessment for older people >= 70 years is feasible using currently available apps. Material and methods A search was carried out for apps that enable a self-assessment in the following domains: physical capacity, cognition, emotion, nutrition, sensory perception and context factors. Based on predefined criteria apps were selected and presented. Results Self-assessment apps could be identified in four of the six domains: physical capacity, cognition, emotion and sensory perception. In total five apps are presented as examples. No apps were identified regarding nutrition and context factors. Numerous self-assessment apps were identified for the field of physical activity. Conclusion The presented results indicate that digital self-assessment can currently be realized for certain domains of the comprehensive geriatric assessment. New promising apps are currently under development. More research is needed to verify test quality criteria and usability of available apps. Furthermore, there is a need for a platform that integrates individual assessment apps to provide users with an overview of the results and recommendations.