The use of the Hungarian Test Your Memory (TYM-HUN), MMSE, and ADAS-Cog tests for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a Hungarian population: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) often presages the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Accurate and early identification of cognitive impairment will substantially reduce the burden on the family and alleviate the costs for the whole society. There is a need for testing methods that are easy to perform even in a general practitioner’s office, inexpensive and non-invasive, which could help the early recognition of mental decline. We have selected the Test Your Memory (TYM), which has proven to be reliable for detecting AD and MCI in several countries. Our study was designed to test the usability of the Hungarian version of the TYM (TYM-HUN) comparing with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) in MCI recognition in the Hungarian population. Methods TYM test was translated and validated into Hungarian (TYM-HUN) in a previous study. The TYM-HUN test was used in conjunction with and compared with the MMSE and the ADAS-Cog. For our study, 50 subjects were selected: 25 MCI patients and 25 healthy controls (HC). Spearman’s rank correlation was used to analyse the correlation between the scores of MMSE and ADAS-Cog with TYM-HUN and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was established. Results MCI can be distinguished from normal aging using TYM-HUN. We established a ‘cut-off’ point of TYM-HUN (44/45points) where optimal sensitivity (80%) and specificity (96%) values were obtained to screen MCI. The total TYM-HUN scores significantly correlated with the MMSE scores (ρ = 0.626; p < 0.001) and ADAS-Cog scores (ρ = − 0.723; p < 0.001). Conclusions Our results showed that the TYM-HUN is a reliable, fast, self-administered questionnaire with the right low threshold regarding MCI and can be used for the early diagnosis of cognitive impairment.

Exploration of the Hungarian Version of Test Your Memory in General Practice: A Cross-Sectional Correlational Study of a Convenience Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Adults

“…Table 2 shows the categories we determined in our previous studies: scoring 50–45 points on the TYM-Hun suggests a mentally healthy individual; scoring between 44 and 36 raises the possibility of MCI; and a score of 35 or less can indicate that further assessment is needed in the direction of dementia, especially if the respondent has symptoms [ 22 , 23 ].…”

“…In our previous studies, due to the above reasons, we translated, examined, and validated a test that can be used in the screening of dementia that spares the doctor and their colleagues time-consuming test taking. This was Test Your Memory (TYM), the Hungarian version (TYM-HUN): a self-administered test that, by choosing the appropriate cut-off point, can be used very reliably for the screening of both early-stage dementia (sensitivity 94%, specificity 94%) and MCI (sensitivity 80%, specificity 96%) [ 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Applicability of the Hungarian Version of the Test Your Memory in General Practice for Screening Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Stage Dementia

“…This allowed us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between demographic factors and cognitive function scores. Table 2 shows the categories we determined in our previous studies: scoring 50-45 point on the TYM-Hun shows a mentally healthy individual; scoring between 44 and 36 suggest MCI; and a score of 35 or less suggests dementia [15,16]. Table 3 shows both the medians and means for the scores because in some cases where the median scores were the same across groups, reporting the means helps to show any subtle differences in the outcomes.…”

“…This is the Test Your Memory (TYM), the Hungarian version of which is TYM-HUN: a self-administered test that, by choosing the appropriate cut-off point, can be used very reliably for the screening of both early-stage dementia (sensitivity 94%, specificity 94%) and mild cognitive impairment (sensitivity 80%, specificity 96%). [15,16] To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive population screening is yet to be carried out in Hungary, which is supposed to examine the incidence of dementia. Concerning the epidemiology of the disease, conclusions were primarily drawn from coding and literature data.…”