Test Your Memory (TYM test): diagnostic evaluation of patients with non-Alzheimer dementias

To validate the use of the Test Your Memory (TYM) test in dementias other than Alzheimer's disease, and to compare the TYM test to two other short cognitive tests.

One hundred and fifty-seven patients with dementia other than typical Alzheimer's disease were recruited from a specialist memory clinic. Patients completed the TYM test, the revised Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE-R) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), plus neurological examination, clinical diagnostics and multi-disciplinary team review. Their TYM scores were compared to age-matched controls and an Alzheimer's disease cohort.

Patients scored an average of 34.4/50 on the TYM test compared to 46.0/50 in age-matched controls. Using the threshold of 42/50, the TYM test detected 80% of non-Alzheimer dementias. The area under the ROC curve was 0.89 with a PPV of 0.80 and a NPV of 0.84. The TYM test performed better than the ACE-R (using the threshold of 83) which detected 69% of cases and the MMSE (using a threshold of 24) which detected only 27%.

The TYM test is a useful test in the detection of non-Alzheimer dementia. The TYM test performs much better than the MMSE at detecting non-Alzheimer dementias.