A short and simple bedside test to detect cognitive fluctuations in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies

The establishment of cognitive fluctuations is important when dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is suspected but can be especially difficult in the absence of a caregiver who lives with the patient. We examined the possibility of using fluctuating scores on a forward (FDS) and a backward digit span (BDS) test as a marker for cognitive fluctuation.

Patients with DLB (21), other forms of dementia (14 with Alzheimer's disease, 8 with vascular dementia) and 20 controls were asked to perform an FDS and BDS twice, with an interval of 20 min.

Seventy percent of patients with DLB showed evidence of cognitive fluctuations for at least one test, while less than 10% of controls and patients with other dementias did. Evidence of cognitive fluctuations on at least one of both tests classified 83% of patients correctly (i.e. DLB or not), with a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 90%.

Repeated forward and backward digit span tests seem a valid, short, easy and inexpensive bedside tool to detect cognitive fluctuations in the diagnostic work-up of DLB, even in the absence of a caregiver, which limits the use of questionnaires.