Table 1.

Comparison of different kinds of diagnostic methods

		Method	Disadvantage
Psychometric tests	PHES	It comprises the number connect test (NCT)-A, NCT-B, serial dotting test, line tracing test, and digit symbol test, which are each scored from 1 to −3	☆take time; ☆affected by demographic factors; ☆lack ecological validity language functions; ☆only two cognitive domains
	Stroop app	“Off” and “On” task are the two components depending on the discordance or concordance of the stimuli. Patients have 2 training runs for two components. In “Off” state, pound signs (###) presented in red, green or blue, one has to respond as quickly as possible by touching the matching color, which were also randomized and not fixed to their respective positions. This continues until a total of 10 presentations. If the subject makes a mistake, the run stops and has to restart again. The “Off” state continued till the subject had achieved 5 correct runs. In the “On” state, the patient has to touch the color of the word presented which is actually the name of the color in discordant coloring. The test of cognitive processing controlling for psychomotor speed was subtracting the “Off” state time from the “On” state time	☆complex ☆optimal cutoff is varied
	ANT	In ANT test, patients were asked to list as many animals as they could in 1 min. All repetitions and errors were excluded from the calculations	☆no significant limitatin
	Other	ICT: An alcohol-related or control picture was presented in the centre of the screen with one of two letters superimposed on one of the four corners of the picture. Patients were instructed to press the space bar if the go cue was present, but to withhold their response if the no-go cue was present. During each trial, the picture and letter remained on screen until the participant responded or until a 1500 ms timeout had elapsed eNCT: electronic based NCT	☆ICT requires highly functional patients
CFF		Patient is equipped with a light shade, and the red light spot flashes at a ratio of 1:1 at a frequency of 60 Hz. At the beginning, the subject cannot recognize the flicker because the flicker frequency is fast, and then the flicker frequency gradually slows down until the subject can recognize the flicker stop.	☆expensive; ☆time-consuming; ☆dependent on the specialist’s interpretation
MRI		Marker, including mean kurtosis values, Six ROIs, ALFF values and default mode network, are useful biomarkers for MHE detection.	☆lack of detection accuracy of the measured signal
inflammatory cytokines		Na	☆no studies on the accuracy and sensitivity of its application