Dementia assessment tests

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Dementia is a common condition in the elderly. Performing dementia assessment tests will help diagnose this condition, thereby providing appropriate intervention plans for each patient.

1. What is dementia?

Dementia includes many different symptoms, causing serious effects on thinking, social capacity, interfere with daily living activities.
Dementia requires the presence of at least two problems in brain function, be it memory loss, poor judgment, problems with language. Since then, the patient cannot perform activities of daily living such as paying money, driving,... Dementia can cause the patient to be confused, not remember people or names, have changes change in personality and behavior.
Dementia involves damage to nerve cells in certain areas of the brain. Depending on the area of ​​the brain damaged, intellectual disability will have different effects on the patient. Common symptoms of the disease include:
Memory loss; Difficulty communicating; Difficulty planning and organizing work; Difficulty performing complex tasks; Difficulty in coordination and motor functions; Personality change; Unable to deduce; Having problems in orientation, being easily disoriented; Behaving inappropriately; Paranoia, agitation, hallucinations...

2. Dementia assessment tests

In diagnosing dementia, performing tests is extremely important. Dementia tests are performed after a patient has been clinically determined to be at high risk for the problem. Commonly performed tests include:

2.1. Screening tests

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): The most used today, has a sensitivity of 75% - 92% and specificity of 81% - 91%, allowing assessment of many different cognitive functions. These are: Orientation, computation, memory, attention, language, and visual reproduction. It takes about 7 minutes to take the MMSE test, with a total score of 30. A score below 24 indicates dementia. However, this method has the limitation that it is not sensitive to early-stage dementia, which can be affected by the patient's age, education, language, reduced mobility and visual acuity; Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA): A test to help detect memory decline in the elderly. MoCA assesses a variety of cognitive functions, including memory, language, attention, executive function, and spatial image perception. The test has a total of 30 points and must be completed in about 10 minutes. Compared with the MMSE, the MoCA test is more sensitive in detecting early-stage dementia. However, this test has the limitation of low specificity, easily influenced by patient education level and many other factors; Mini-Cog: A simple quiz that involves repeating 3 unsolicited words and drawing a clock. Drawing the clock is considered normal if the numbers are shown in the correct order, the hands of the clock indicate the required time. Regarding repeating 3 words, if you can't repeat any words, it is considered dementia; repeating all 3 words correctly is considered not dementia; Repeat correctly 1-2 words, then based on the clock drawing test. This test method is quite simple but has high sensitivity in predicting dementia. At the same time, it has a short implementation time and is less affected by the patient's education level and language ability.

2.2. Tests to assess specific cognitive abilities

The ability to pay attention and focus: Attention is the ability to direct awareness to something without being distracted, concentration is the ability to maintain one's attention for a period of time. Assessing the patient's ability to pay attention and focus is important in assessing other cognitive domains. Tests used to assess attention include: The reading test of reading a sequence of numbers; Quiz reading a sequence of numbers backwards; Crossword test; Score matching test part B; Language: During questioning, the doctor can make a preliminary assessment of the patient's language function. In addition, it can be assessed by the modified Boston identifier test or the fluency test of words; Memory: Includes the following tests: Immediate memory: Assessed through attention span tests; Proximal memory: As assessed by tests of word memory (memorizing word lists, stories) and picture memory (remembering pictures); Long-term memory: Assessed by asking the patient to tell about major events, famous figures; Image recognition in space: The patient is asked to draw cubes, interlocking polygons, ... or test clocks; Executive function: Assessed by frontal lobe test.

2.3. Mental behavior assessment test

This is a psychiatric symptom assessment test, designed to assess the manifestations of mental illness in patients with dementia. This test set includes 12 items: hallucinations, paranoia, depression, anxiety, agitation, apathy, loss of control, excitement, movement disorders, emotional changes, urinary incontinence owner and abnormal eating behavior.

2.4. Daily activity assessment quiz

There are many scales to evaluate daily activities but mainly focus on 2 areas:
Basic daily activities: Eating, dressing, bathing,...; Daily activities using tools, tools and applications: Buying, selling, managing money,... Doctors will use this scale to monitor the change in daily activities of patients with dementia. intellectual impairment.
With dementia assessment tests, the doctor will determine the basic level of dementia of the patient. From there, they come up with the most appropriate treatment for the patient.
To care for someone with dementia, caregivers need to have certain knowledge, and most importantly, the patient needs to be examined and treated promptly by medical professionals.
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