The prevalence of dementia in Spain is 6% of those older than 65 and increases with age, with Alzheimer’s being the most frequent cause of death. According to recent data of the Spanish Association for Neurological Diseases (FEEN), it is estimated that the number of dementia patients will reach almost 600,000 by 2030.
The diagnosis of dementia requires a long and expensive process. According to experts, screening tests for diagnosis are sometimes difficult to conduct and require a great number of instructions before their use.
For a fast and easily applied test specific enough to determine memory damage among the aged Spanish population, the researchers Francisco Barrero Hernández, Francisco Vives Montero, and Blas Morales Gordo, of the Department of Physiology of the Universidad de Granada and the Movement Disorder Unit of the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio, have assessed the Spanish version of the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS).
This test consists of an easily applicable screening test to assess memory loss. It is very quick and it is recommended by the Alzheimer’s Disease Unit of the American Academy of Neurology. Through this test, “short-term verbal memory” can be assessed. According to Francisco Barrero’s explanation, in the first stage the individual learns four written words, reads them aloud, and later relates them to four different categories. After a non-structured lapse of 2-3 minutes, the individual carries out a free memory exercise in which the only references given are the above-mentioned categories. In summary, it is a test based on learning and memory strategies in which the individual has to look for a word and identify it according to a category.
Screening test
Unlike diagnosis tests, the screening test can be used to identify individuals having a higher risk of suffering from a disease, dementia in this case. However, for this test to be useful, it has to detect the highest number of individuals suffering from the disease, meaning that it needs to have high sensitivity as well as a high degree of specificity and probability so as to classify healthy individuals correctly.
The Spanish researchers have assessed the degree of specificity and sensitivity of the MIS compared to other screening tests for the diagnosis of dementia among the Spanish population. They have also assessed the applicability of this test among the Spanish population, as memory tests conceived to be conducted in other languages “are not always useful in a Spanish cultural environment”.
In the trial stage, researchers have analysed the sample population of 101 neurology patients suffering from “memory loss”. The MIS showed a sensitivity of 83.7% in screening for dementia, signifying higher sensitivity than in the semantic verbal-fluency test and the clock-drawing test. Concerning specificity among the sample population, it registered 94.2%, which is higher than the specificity shown by Folstein’s Mini-Mental State Examination.
Given the results, the researchers have concluded that, like the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Spanish version of Buschke’s MIS is a useful tool to diagnose dementia patients. Therefore, “according to other studies conducted in Spain, both tests can be applied among Spanish population with similar results”. The scientists add that it is an easily applicable test both because of its speed and its simplicity. “It can be conducted by non-neurologists, such as general practitioners”. In addition, it is not influenced by sociodemographic variables such as age or education level.
Reference:
Prof. Francisco Vives Montero. Department of Physiology. Universidad de Granada. Pone no.: +34 958 243 525. Mobil phone: +34 615 307 496. E-mail: fvives@ugr.es
