Screening for amnestic mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease with M@T (Memory Alteration Test) in the primary care population.
OBJECTIVE
To design and validate a new screening test for amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (A-MCI) and early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
We develop a verbal episodic and semantic memory test: the Memory Alteration Test (M@T). Discriminative validity was assessed in a population sample of 400 aged individuals from primary care population centres in Barcelona, Spain, 50 patients with A-MCI according to Petersen et al. criteria, and 66 with early AD (Global Deterioration Scale-4 stage) according to the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria.


RESULTS
The M@T is quick, 5-min, and easy to administer and to score. M@T mean scores were significantly different between all groups: 41.4 (SD = 4.9) in the primary care population, 31.5 (SD = 3.9) in the A-MCI group and 21.8 (SD = 4.9) in early AD. A cut-off score of 37 points had a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 79% for A-MCI diagnosis (AUC = 0.932). A cut-off score of 28 points had a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 98% for early AD diagnosis (AUC = 0.99) and a sensitivity of 87 % and specificity of 82% to differentiate between A-MCI and AD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The M@T provides efficient and valid screening for A-MCI and early stage AD, and discriminates between A-MCI and early AD patients.
Rami
L
L
Memory-Alzheimer Unit, Department of Neurology, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic i Universitari de Barcelona, Institut d'Investigaciò Biomédica August Pi I Sunyer, Spain. jlmoli@clinic.ub.es
Molinuevo
J L
JL
Sanchez-Valle
R
R
Bosch
B
B
Villar
A
A
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013030:Spain; D014706:Verbal Learning