A Survey Diagnostic Tool for Senile Dementia

Abstract

To validate a senile dementia survey diagnostic tool, 195 individuals aged 61-91 and referred by their physicians as normal or mildly demented were examined. The etiologic diagnosis used as criterion was the consensus of two experienced neurologists, assisted by clinical and laboratory data from referring physicians and by neuropsychologic evaluation of questionably affected persons. Agreement between the neurologists was high, as indicated by a weighted Kappa coefficient of 0.97 (95% confidence interval (Cl) (0.94, 1.00)). Agreement between the instrument and criterion diagnosis was also excellent (kappa w = 0.93; 95% Cl (0.88, 0.98)). Used alone as a screening diagnostic tool, the cognitive function portion of the instrument was much more sensitive (0.929) than previously used brief tests and was acceptably specific (0.800). Because normals complete this cognitive test in 15-20 minutes, it should be a major advance in population-based studies of senile dementia and normal aging.

Mini-Mental State Examination norms in a community-dwelling sample of elderly with low schooling in Brazil

“…We defined a PFAQ score of less than five as normal, since functional impairment is highly correlated with cognitive problems 14,15,16,17 . Still, some of these individuals may suffer from clinical (and even chronic) diseases that might impair normal cognitive function.…”

“…Those with scores below 5 in the PFAQ were retrieved from the database. Knowing that functional and cognitive impairment are closely related and that combined use of functional and cognitive scales can improve the detection of dementia in the community, the present sample was considered cognitively normal because of their independent performance in activities of daily living (ADL) 14,15,16,17 .…”

Cognitive-Linguistic Performance and Quality of Life in Healthy Aging

“…Research data established that these tests are sensitive to cognitive decline [12,25,26,27,28]. Below are the measures included in the study.…”

Attention Restoration Theory: A systematic review of the attention restoration potential of exposure to natural environments

“…Pfeffer et al (1981) suggested that it is one of the best tools to distinguish between early signs of dementia and depression, indicating that while many of the attentional tests may be affected by mood, the SDMT is tapping into cognitive function over and above any mood effects (p. 524).…”