Cognitive Score Changes Over Time May Hint at Dementia

New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that early changes in a person's performance on cognitive tests may be associated with dementia. I believe this is really important and exciting research. I know from the experience of my mother, and many others that I have met, that the earlier the diagnosis the better chance for a more positive outcome.

"The investigators found that relatively brief measures of memory and executive function reassessed annually would allow physicians to predict of dementia before the patient scores in the clearly impaired range," said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Here are some more findings from the study.

The researchers developed a model to assess "within-person" variability on commonly used neuropsychological tests that compensated for sex, education, medical illness, and performance on each individual test. The model was then used to evaluate 897 people older than 70 between October 1993 and December 2007. Baseline testing was done, and then the participants had follow-up exams every 12 to 18 months.

During the follow-up, 61 cases of dementia were identified.

The researchers found that when they controlled for sex, education and medical illness, each one-point difference in the variability scores increased the risk of dementia by nearly four times. If they also factored in adjustments for scores on individual tests, the risk was still more than doubled for each one point difference in the variability model.

"The investigators found that relatively brief measures of memory and executive function reassessed annually would allow physicians to predict of dementia before the patient scores in the clearly impaired range," said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

"This study brings us one step closer to a simple, safe and reliable test of dementia risk," added Kennedy. And, that's important, he said, because once medications are developed to treat dementia, you have to be able to correctly identify who needs the treatment.