[Detection of dementia and depression in a family practice]

The issue of this article is to examine the possibilities for the general practitioner (GP) to distinguish between psychological complaints in general and symptoms possibly caused by dementia and depression. A secondary analysis has been carried out of material from previous research on primary care for the elderly. The data of this research originated from two GP's and 282 of their clients. Twenty variables concerning dementia, depression and non-specific psychological complaints have been selected and subsequently analyzed by a log-linear model of first order interactions between each pair of variables. The results lead to the conclusion that the GP's in this practice are not very inclined or able to couch the various psychological complaints possibly caused by dementia or depression into well-defined diagnostic entities. Moreover, it appears that the GP and the patient often do not agree about the existence of depressive complaints. The percentage of elderly in this practice possibly suffering from SDAT is about the same as mentioned in two Dutch registrations of morbidity in general practice (I.2-I.6% of people of 65 and over). However, these figures are considerably lower as compared to the prevalence mentioned in epidemiological studies in other countries.