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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Correlates of delayed referral for the diagnosis of dementia in an outpatient population | | Author(s) | Caterina Cattel, Giovanni Gambassi, Antonio Sgadari |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 55A, no 2, February 2000 |
| Pages | pp M98-M102 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Referrals ; Delay ; Geriatric out-patients clinics ; Comparison ; Italy. |
| Annotation | Early diagnosis of dementia is critical, but there is usually a time lag between onset of symptoms and referral for neuropsychological testing and diagnosis. All patients (140) with signs and symptoms of cognitive deterioration referred to a Rome memory clinic between January 1995 and June 1996 were evaluated. The following tests were used: the National Institute of Neurological and Communications Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NNCDS-ADRDA) criteria; Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Mental Deterioration Battery for cognitive and neuropsychological functions; and performance on activities of daily living (ADLs). Of 127 eligible patients, 63% had Alzheimer's disease (AD), 26% multi-infarct dementia, and 11% dementia of other types. Mean age was 73.9, and 59% of patients were female. The mean time to diagnosis (TTD) was 13.8 months. Age, gender and the degree of cognitive impairment are important correlates of the time between onset of signs or symptoms and referral for dementia diagnosis. These factors are independent of the type of dementia, but are influenced by the level of physical function. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000825207 A |
| Classmark | EA: L5R: 4K: L6G: 48: 76V |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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