Early Dementia Questionnaire (EDQ) : A new screening instrument for early dementia in primary care practice
Background: Worldwide, the population is ageing, resulting in an associated increase in dementia prevalence. Forgetfulness in elderly people is often perceived as normal in some local cultures and thus, the early detection of dementia in primary care requires detection of symptoms other than memor...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30204/1/Early%20Dementia.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30204/ https://bmcfampract.biomedcentral.com/ |
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| Summary: | Background: Worldwide, the population is ageing, resulting in an associated increase in dementia prevalence.
Forgetfulness in elderly people is often perceived as normal in some local cultures and thus, the early detection of
dementia in primary care requires detection of symptoms other than memory complaints.
This study was conducted to screen elderly patients for early dementia in primary care using a newly developed
Early Dementia Questionnaire (EDQ) and comparing it with a standard assessment tool, the Mini Mental State
Examination (MMSE).
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a group of elderly patients using convenience sampling of
consecutive patients. Elderly depression was excluded using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Exclusion criteria
also included known cases of dementia. Inclusion criteria included a score of 5 or less in GDS and the presence of a
reliable informant. A face-to-face interview was done using the EDQ with the patient and informant to elicit
symptoms of early dementia. If the informant was not present, a telephone interview was used instead. The patient
was then assessed with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) using a cut-off point of 21.
Results: Prevalence of dementia among 155 subjects was 52.3% by EDQ and 15.5% by MMSE. The EDQ
demonstrated a sensitivity of 79.2% with specificity of 52.7%. Positive predictive value (PPV) of EDQ was 23.5% with
the negative predictive value (NPV) of 93.2%. The strongest predictor of possible early dementia was complaints of
memory problems (OR 26.22; 95% CI 2.03–338.14) followed by complaints of concentration problems (OR 14.33;
95% CI 5.53–37.12), emotional problems (OR 4.75; 95% CI 1.64–13.81) and sleep disturbances (OR 3.14; 95% CI
1.15-8.56). Socio-demographic factors, medical problems and smoking status were not associated with possible
dementia (p>0.05), despite that 60–70% of the elderly had chronic illnesses.
Conclusion: The EDQ is a promising alternative to MMSE for screening of early dementia in primary care. |
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