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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Screening for dementia in primary care
— a review of the use, efficacy and quality of measures | | Author(s) | A Milne, A Culverwell, R Guss |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 20, no 5, October 2008 |
| Pages | pp 911-926 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Screening ; General practice ; Evaluation ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | Despite evidence that early identification of dementia is of growing policy and practice significance in the UK, limited work has been done on evaluating screening measures for use in primary care. This paper aims to offer a clinically informed synthesis of research and practice-based evidence on the utility, efficacy and quality of dementia screening measures. The study has three elements: a review of the literature; a small-scale survey of measures employed in three primary care trusts (PCTs); and a systematic clinical evaluation of the most commonly used screening instruments. The study integrates data from research and clinical sources. The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG), the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS), and the Mini-Cognitive Assessment Instrument (Mini-Cog) were found to be brief, easy to administer, clinically acceptable, effective and minimally affected by education, gender and ethnicity. All three have psychometric properties similar to the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Although the MMSE is widely used in the UK, this project identifies the GPCOG, MIS and Mini-Cog as clinically and psychometrically robust and more appropriate for routine use in primary care. A coherent review of evidence coupled with an in-depth evaluation of screening instruments has the potential to enhance ability and commitment to early intervention in primary care and, as part of a wider educational strategy, improve the quality and consistency of dementia screening. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-081127202 A |
| Classmark | EA: 3V: L5: 4C: 64A |
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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