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Dementia Assessment (dementia + assessment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: Tools for diagnosis and assessment,,

MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 8 2009
Jaime Kulisevsky MD
Abstract Cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia are frequent and debilitating features associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Formal neuropsychological examination is required to ascertain the degree and pattern of CI over the course of the disease. The use of different tools may explain heterogeneous data obtained from studies to date. Normative data for extensively used scales [Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)] is incomplete in PD populations. According to sample characteristics, statistical analyses, and methodological quality, 33 studies using scales not specific to PD (MDRS, MMSE, Cambridge Cognitive Assessment, FAB) or PD-specific scales (Mini-Mental Parkinson, Scales for Outcomes of Parkinson's disease,Cognition, Parkinson's Disease,Cognitive Rating Scale, and Parkinson Neuropsychometric Dementia Assessment) were eligible for the critical analysis of their appropriateness to assess cognition in PD. Of the four scales specifically designed for PD, the SCOPA-COG and the PD-CRS have undergone extensive and rigorous validation processes. While the SCOPA-COG mainly assesses "frontal-subcortical" cognitive defects, the PD-CRS also assesses "instrumental-cortical" functions, allowing better characterization of the different patterns of CI that may be present in PD from the earliest stages. The MMP and PANDA scales were designed as brief screening tests for CI and have not yet been subjected to extensive clinimetric evaluations. Further research on PD-specific tools seems mandatory to help establish accurate cut-off scores for the diagnosis of mild PDD, detect cognitive profiles more prone to the future development of dementia, and allow comparisons between different descriptive or interventional studies. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society [source]

The significance of dyslexia screening for the assessment of dementia in older people

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 7 2008
Claudia Metzler-Baddeley
Abstract Dyslexia and Dementia are disorders that share cognitive impairments in attention, language, and working memory. It is therefore possible that the presence of dyslexia may influence the assessment of the severity of dementia and potentially lead to the development of atypical forms of dementia. The present study investigated the prevalence of problems suggestive of dyslexia with a brief self-report questionnaire in a sample of 195 older adults referred to a Memory Clinic for dementia assessment. Ten percent reported problems suggestive of dyslexia consistent with the estimated prevalence in the general population. This group performed significantly lower in a number of attention and language related tests but not in other cognitive domains. These results highlight the importance of dyslexia screening for the assessment of dementia, not least because the choice of treatment is guided by the outcome of the assessment of the severity and the type of dementia. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Prediction rules for computed tomography in the dementia assessment: do they predict clinical utility of CT?

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 4 2003
Kelly A. Condefer
Abstract Neuroimaging is widely employed in the dementia assessment in refining clinical decision-making. However, with rising interest in cost-effective medical practice, efforts have been made in the literature to define clinical prediction rules that select for a subgroup of patients who would most likely benefit from neuroimaging. This short study examined the ability of a group of published clinical predictors to identify patients whose diagnoses or management would be influenced by CT scan results. The study finds that none of the published predictors bears a significant relationship to actual influence of CT scans in a group of memory clinic patients, highlighting the need for the development of clinical predictors for neuroimaging that will impact patient care. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]