Memory testing in dementia: how much is enough?
Analyses of eight widely used memory measures (Word List Acquisition and Recall used in the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease neuropsychology battery, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised [WMS-R] Logical Memory I and II, WMS-R Visual Reproduction I and II, the memory scores from the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination [NCSE], memory scores from the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]), and the MMSE total score showed each to have moderate predictive power in differentiating between patients with mild dementia and healthy normal controls. When these instruments were combined in a logistic regression analysis, three of them had substantial predictive power. Together, the Word List Acquisition, WMS-R Logical Memory II, and WMS-R Visual Reproduction II were 97.26% accurate (100% sensitive and 94.59% specific) in distinguishing these two groups. The Word List Acquisition is a brief test that alone had high accuracy (92%). These memory tests are highly useful in the diagnosis of mild dementia.
Derrer
D S
DS
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Howieson
D B
DB
Mueller
E A
EA
Camicioli
R M
RM
Sexton
G
G
Kaye
J A
JA
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity