Post-Mortem diagnosis of dementia by informant interview

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Gerontology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• The Brazilian Brain Bank of the Aging Brain Study Group (BBBABSG) traditionally uses postmortem informant interviews for diagnosing dementia.
• The accuracy of this diagnostic method needs comparison against established clinical standards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of postmortem diagnoses derived from informant interviews.
• To compare these diagnoses against those established at a specialized memory clinic, considered the gold standard.

Main Methods:

• A prospective study involving 90 individuals (45 with dementia, 45 without) was conducted.
• Informant interviews were performed at both the BBBABSG and the Reference Center for Cognitive Disorders (RCCD).
• Diagnoses were compared, with RCCD's consensus diagnosis serving as the gold standard for calculating sensitivity and specificity.

Main Results:

• The informant interview demonstrated 86.6% sensitivity and 84.4% specificity for diagnosing dementia.
• For normal cognition, the interview achieved 65.3% sensitivity and 93.7% specificity.
• These findings indicate strong diagnostic performance for dementia and high specificity for normal cognition.

Conclusions:

• The postmortem informant interview, as utilized by the BBBABSG, is a sensitive and specific tool for diagnosing dementia.
• It also exhibits high specificity in identifying normal cognition.
• This method is valuable for postmortem cognitive assessments in aging brain studies.