A new study published in the June issue of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease demonstrates the accuracy and validity of a new mathematics-based memory assessment developed by Medical Care Corporation to detect early signs of memory impairment due to Alzheimer's disease and other related disorders.
The assessment, called the MCI Screen, outperformed two of the most widely used pen-and-paper tests and its accuracy helps justify the importance of regular memory assessments of people over 65 by primary care physicians, according to the study's authors.
The 254-patient study, titled "Detecting Cognitive Impairment in Primary Care: Performance Assessment of Three Screening Instruments," was conducted by Douglas Trenkle, D.O., a primary care physician at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth, Maine, as a part of the Hancock County Aging Project. It compared the MCI Screen to the two most widely used pen-and-paper assessments: the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) in patients over 65 without previous diagnosis of memory disorders. Those found to be impaired with any of the three assessments received a standard diagnostic workup including blood tests and brain imaging.
The MCI Screen, a simple, computer-based memory assessment, was 96 percent accurate in detecting impaired patients, while the MMSE was 72 percent accurate and the CDT 57 percent. The MCI Screen detected memory disorders from a variety of conditions ranging from Alzheimer's disease (43 percent) to cerebrovascular disease (36 percent) to depression (3 percent). Of the 254 patients assessed, 20 percent were found to have underlying medical conditions. However, two-thirds had no subjective complaints of impairment and would not have received medical attention if they had not been screened for memory loss.