AI dementia screening launches in elderly centers

The BEAT AD initiative—short for Brain Health Evaluation And Tailor-made Measures for Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease—will launch AI-based retinal screenings for dementia risk at Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin district starting January 2027, marking its first expansion beyond university pilot settings into community elderly care centers.

The programme will target 2,700 older adults over two years, delivering dementia risk screening and personalised prevention through two elderly centres operated by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council.

How it works

BEAT-AD uses AI-powered retinal imaging technology to identify older adults with normal cognitive function who may be at increased risk of dementia. The AI model analyses retinal photos captured using a fundus camera to detect changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Professor Vincent Mok, co-director of BEAT AD, the model was developed using data from approximately 3,000 cognitively normal adults and 600 patients with Alzheimer’s disease across Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Results and expansion

The BEAT AD pilot, conducted at the Chinese University of Hong Kong since 2023, found that approximately 21% of 831 participants with normal cognitive function screened positive for increased dementia risk. These participants also had poorer cognitive performance and control of modifiable dementia risk factors.

One-year follow-up data from 532 participants showed greater improvement in Brain Health Score among those receiving personalised brain health management than those receiving brain health education alone.

The expansion of BEAT AD will test whether AI-assisted dementia risk screening and personalised preventive care can be integrated into existing community elderly services, beyond the university setting where the programme was piloted.

Broader context

Hong Kong faces a growing dementia burden, with the number of people living with the condition projected to rise from approximately 180,000 in 2026 to 240,000 by 2036. The BEAT AD initiative is part of a larger trend of digital health approaches to dementia risk assessment and prevention in the Asia-Pacific region.

Other approaches include an AI-powered drawing test and a game-based screening app. In South Korea, researchers have also developed retinal imaging AI to screen for dementia and predict future risk.

For the people most affected by dementia, the introduction of BEAT AD in community elderly care centres could mean earlier intervention and better outcomes. By providing personalised preventive care, the programme may help delay the onset of dementia, reducing the number of cases and improving the quality of life for older adults.

The BEAT AD programme requires only a fundus camera and a trained healthcare professional, making it potentially easier to replicate in community settings and integrate into existing primary healthcare and social welfare services. This makes the programme a valuable tool for community elderly care centres, as it can be implemented with minimal equipment and personnel.