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The 4 Mountains Test: A Short Test of Spatial Memory with High Sensitivity for the Diagnosis of Pre-dementia Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: October 13, 2016
Prediction of dementia of Alzheimer type by different types of subjective cognitive decline
Frank Jessen1,2,3, Luca Kleineidam1,2,4, Steffen Wolfsgruber2,4
1Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Introduction:
Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a risk condition for dementia, including dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT).
Methods:
We report sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) for conversion to all-cause dementia, and DAT in different SCD types (decline in memory, assocated worries, longitudinal consitency, of the AgeCoDe study (n = 2.402, 12 years follow-up).
Results:
82.7% of those converting to any dementia and 84.4% of those converting with DAT at follow-up, reported memory decline and fulfilled criteria of SCD at least at one time point before. SCD with worries at two consecutive time points showed a specificity of 92.2% for any dementia and also for DAT as well as a PPV of 44.3% for any dementia and of 36.9% for DAT at follow-up at the expense of low sensitivity.
Discussion:
Different SCD subtypes were either sensitive or specific for future all-cause dementia and DAT in cognitively unimpaired individuals. Modest PPV of the most specific SCD subtypes were achieved in this low prevalence population.
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