Differential diagnosis of dementia: intra- and interdiscipline agreement.
Ninety clinicians from six disciplines diagnosed ten case descriptions of patients, judged by a multidisciplinary expert committee to suffer from dementia. Five cases were diagnosed before and five after a consensus meeting on the diagnosis of dementia. A significant change in the level of agreement between the disciplines could not be established. The analysis did show a significant difference between the disciplines in the use of etiologic diagnoses. The results indicated that, in order to avoid possible bias caused by medical specialization, a multidisciplinary approach for this type of patient is recommended.
Plugge
L A
LA
Department of Neuropsychology and Psychobiology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Verhey
F R
FR
van Everdingen
J J
JJ
Jolles
J
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged