Skip to main content

Diagnosing dementia: No easy job

Abstract

Background

From both clinical experience and research we learned that in complex progressive disorders such as dementia, diagnosis includes multiple steps, each with their own clinical and research characteristics.

Discussion

Diagnosing starts with a trigger phase in which the GP gradually realizes that dementia may be emerging. This is followed by a disease-oriented diagnosis and subsequently a care -oriented diagnosis. In parallel the GP should consider the consequences of this process for the caregiver and the interaction between both. As soon as a comprehensive diagnosis and care plan are available, monitoring follows.

Summary

We propose to split the diagnostic process into four diagnostic steps, followed by a monitoring phase. We recommend to include these steps when designing studies on screening, diagnosis and monitoring of patients with dementia and their families.

Peer Review reports

Background

Diagnosis is usually thought of as a linear process of performing one or more tests in patients with specific signs or symptoms. If the results show that the patient has the disorder, the diagnostic stage has ended, and treatment can begin. This does not work in primary care, where pattern recognition and the use of 'illness scripts' (more or less complex representations of diseases) are used in non-linear pathways to find the most probable explanations for presenting symptoms [1]. It does not work in specialist care for complex conditions either. If a patient may be developing dementia, the diagnostic process does not start with testing (because of the frequent absence of a clear indication of formal testing) and does not end with applying the treatment logically required by the test results (as also care planning and care for the carers will be required and should regularly be adapted).

In this overview, we combined decades of clinical experience as a GP or a nurse, with the results of a large number of qualitative and quantitative studies. We reached consensus about a number of steps which together build a comprehensive diagnostic work-up in case of cognitive deterioration and dementia. Each of these steps is supported by evidence from primary care-based studies.

Suspecting the possibility of dementia

Like some other chronic diseases, dementia is a progressive, insidious disorder. There is usually no fixed starting point, the initial clinical picture can be very diverse, and may also mimic other conditions such as normal ageing, depression, or less commonly, a brain tumour. The first stage of diagnosing here is not testing, but starting to suspect the possibility that dementia may be emerging ( the trigger phase ). A specific problem with dementia is that patients, families and general practitioners may all be reluctant to diagnose dementia, a serious and largely untreatable progressive neurodegenerative disease which is very treatening for both patients and families. Physicians may unconsciously hesitate to label a patient as such [2], and family members may gradually take over social roles from the patient, without necessarily being aware of what they are doing. By doing this, they protect the patient from decompensating in daily life, but also delay the conscious recognition of the disorder by offsetting impairments [3].

Triggers for suspecting dementia mostly are subtle signs and symptoms which do not appear in the textbooks and can best be found using qualitative studies. In two such qualitative studies, both carers and physicians were interviewed about the symptom patterns preceding the diagnosis of dementia. The first signs of dementia most frequently noticed by carers or doctors were not the classic 'memory problems'. Suspicion mostly arised from revelatory moments or triggers. Revelatory moments can be any sudden change of environment: hospitalisation, change of medication, or disappearance of the main carer (usually the partner) because of death or hospitalisation. Important triggers for the physician or carers include the development of problems in everyday tasks, behavioural problems, short term memory disorders or failure in work or home tasks [3].

It is not easy for family, carers or nurses who live and work very near to the patient, to correctly describe what they observe and report it to the GP. To help them, observational scales can be used as soon as a problem is identified [4]. These scales only record what has been observed without any interpretation or immediate diagnostic aim. As soon as the GP is informed about the actual concerns, he can decide whether to start a diagnostic process to confirm or refute the presence of cognitive decline.

A disease-oriented diagnosis

A formal diagnosis of dementia results from a step-by-step and iterative assembly of evidence (a disease-oriented diagnosis ). Consecutive test results add to a diagnostic outcome with increasing validity [5]. The suspicion is progressively confirmed (or refuted), one of the dementia subgroups is identified, and other possible reasons for the signs and symptoms are excluded. Diagnosing dementia essentially remains a clinical issue [6] and GPs are mostly well able to correctly diagnose dementia [7]. GPs and specialists perform tests ranging from simple to complex and from highly sensitive to progressively more specific. Cognitive function tests such as the Clock Drawing test, Lawton's IADL test, the 6CIT, the MMSE or one of its validated shorter forms allow a first, sensitive approach that can easily be performed, over a period of time, by the GP [8, 9]. Once these initial tests have further increased the likelihood of cognitive impairment, formal testing for a diagnosis of dementia using a standardised test battery such as CAMDEX or ADAS-cog, is indicated. Additional clinical, laboratory and imaging tests can be required to exclude other, treatable disorders, such as depression, visual and hearing problems, endocrine disease or subdural haematoma. Identifying the type of dementia remains a task for a multidisciplinary specialised group [7]. Referral to a memory assessment clinic can provide an opportunity for a comprehensive assessment within a single consultation. The assessment of other co-morbidities which are not directly related to the dementia is essential as either the disorders themselves or treatment may influence the patient's functional status.

Assessing care needs

Usually, a formal diagnosis of one type of dementia does not provide us with all the information we need. There is no clear-cut disease-modifying treatment for dementia [10], and people with dementia tend to survive for an average of five years after diagnosis [11, 12], making care more important than cure. Within this framework, it is good to mention that - contradictory to what is sometimes thought - disease-specific methods have been developed to measure and monitor quality of life, also in demented people. Progression of cognitive decline is thereby not necessarily related to decreasing quality of life [13, 14]. Therefore, careful and repeated assessment of the patient's care needs is essential to guide the efforts of all those helping the patient over a period of many years ( care-oriented diagnosis ). A number of assessment methods have been developed, of which the Resident Assessment Instrument (MDS-RAI) and the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE) seem the most helpful [15, 16].

Listing care needs does not help much, however. Care needs have to be translated into care goals, and then the steps to be taken or tasks to be performed to reach these goals have to be planned [17]. Such planning is best performed during meetings where all members of the care team take responsibility for part of the tasks [18]. In our experience, such team meetings are far more effective if the results of a formal assessment of the patient's care needs, as provided by the MDS-RAI, are available.

Including carers in your diagnostic approach

In most cases people with dementia do not live alone. Family members may play an important role as carers. However, these carers will develop their own needs, which frequently go undetected and neglected. The risk of depression in non-professional carers of demented people is far higher than in other people of the same age and sex [19]. In particular, behavioural disturbances are responsible for a large part of the distress [20]. The subjective burden which is highly related to the coping behaviour of the carer [19, 21], is more predictive for the risk of depression than the objective burden of tasks to be performed. Assessing the carer's needs ( carer assessment ) requires continuous attention, especially from the GP, who is best placed to monitor the sometimes unsteady balance between the burden and the coping strategies of the carer. A large number of interventions to support carers have been tested using simple (patient level) or clustered (GP or practice level) randomized clinical trials. Simple and straightforward interventions [22–25] are the most appealing and many of them have been tested. In general, satisfaction of patients and carers with such interventions is high. However, if more robust outcome measures such as depression in carers or time to institutionalisation are used, almost no effect is found [24]. Recently, in a small scale RCT, a more comprehensive intervention was tested including a care manager who made some formal visits to the carer and was continuously within reach by phone. In the intervention group, incidence of depression in carers was significantly reduced to 16% compared to the control group [26].

Monitoring

Dementia is a chronic disorder with consequences for both patient and carers changing over time. Monitoring these changes and adapting care accordingly is therefore necessary. Literature on the optimal frequency and methods for such monitoring is scarce, not to say almost inexistent. In the recently published and outstanding book on evidence-based monitoring [27] dementia is not even an index term. There is much scope for research in this field.

Conclusions

Diagnosing dementia is far more complicated than just performing a few tests and deciding whether a patient has dementia or not. We therefore proposed splitting the diagnostic process into four diagnostic steps, followed by a monitoring phase: the trigger phase, a disease-oriented diagnosis, a care-oriented diagnosis and carer assessment (figure 1). The GP, together with other professional and non-professional carers, has many questions to answer and assessments to perform before finally implementing a strategy that provides optimal and comprehensive help in order to retain capacities and maximise quality of life of all people included. It may be important to take all these steps into consideration when designing studies to identify strengths and weaknesses of interventions intended to improve screening, diagnosis and monitoring of patients with dementia and their families.

Figure 1
figure 1

Stages in diagnosing dementia.

References

  1. Feltovitch PJ, Barrow HS: Issues of generality in medical problem solving. Tutorials in problem-based learning. Edited by: Schmidt HG, De Volder ML. 1984, Van Gorcum, Assen, p128-42.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Downs M, Bowers B: Caring for people with dementia. BMJ. 2008, 336: 225-226. 10.1136/bmj.39429.434907.80.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. De Lepeleire J, Heyrman J, Buntinx F: The early diagnosis of dementia: triggers, early signs and luxating events. Fam Pract. 1998, 15: 431-436. 10.1093/fampra/15.5.431.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Hopman-Rock M, Tak E, Staats P: Development and validation of the Observation List fof early signs of Dementia (OLD). Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2001, 16: 406-14. 10.1002/gps.354.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Buntinx F, Aertgeerts B, Aerts M, Bruyninckx R, Knottnerus JA, Van Den Bruel A, Van Den Ende J: Multivariable analysis in diagnostic accuracy studies. What are the possibilities?. The evidence base of clinical diagnosis - Theory and methods of diagnostic research. Edited by: Knottnerus A, Buntinx F. 2008, Oxford; Blackwell Publishing Ltd Wiley Publ

    Google Scholar 

  6. Health Council of the Netherlands: Dementia. 2002, The Hague: Health Council of the Netherlands, publication no. 2002/04E

    Google Scholar 

  7. Van Hout H, Vernooij-Dassen M, Poels P, Hoefnagels W, Grol R: Are general practitioners able to accurately diagnose dementia and identify Alzheimer's disease? A comparison with an outpatient memory clinic. Brit J Gen Pract. 2000, 50: 311-312.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Schultz-Larsen K, Lomholt RK, Kreiner S: Mini-mental status examination: a short form of MMSE was as accurate as the original MMSE in predicting dementia. J Clin Epidemiol. 2007, 60: 260-267. 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.06.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. De Lepeleire J, Heyrman J, Baro F, Buntinx F: A combination of tests for the diagnosis of dementia had a significant diagnostic value. J Clin Epidemiol. 2005, 58: 217-225. 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2004.07.005.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. NICE & SCIE: Dementia: supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care. 2008, NICE clinical guideline n° 42. London

    Google Scholar 

  11. Xie J, Brayne C, Matthews FE: Survival times in people with dementia: analysis from population based cohort study with 14 year follow-up. BMJ. 2008, 336: 258-262. 10.1136/bmj.39433.616678.25.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Rait G, Walters K, Bottomley C, Petersen I, Iliffe S, Nazareth I: Survival of people with clinical diagnosis of dementia in primary care: cohort study. BMJ. 2010, 341: c3584-10.1136/bmj.c3584.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Missotten P, Squelard G, Ylieff M, Di Notte D, Paquay L, De Lepeleire J, Fontaine O: Quality of life in older Belgian people: comparison between people with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and controls. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008, 23 (11): 1103-1109. 10.1002/gps.1981.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Missotten P, Squelard G, Ylieff M, Di Notte D, Paquay L, De Lepeleire J, Buntinx F, Fontaine O: Relationship between quality of life and cognitive decline in dementia. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2008, 25: 564-572. 10.1159/000137689.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Carpenter I, Gambassi G, Topinkova E, et al: Community care in Europe. The Aged in Home Care project (AdHOC). Aging Clin Exp Res. 2004, 16: 259-69.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Walters K, Iliffe S, See Tai S, Orrell M: Assessing needs from patient, carer and professional perspectives: the Camberwell Assessment of Need for Elderly people in primary care. Age & Ageing. 2000, 29 (6): 505-510. 10.1093/ageing/29.6.505.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. De Lepeleire J, Heyrman J: Diagnosis and management of dementia in primary care at an early stage: the need for a new concept and an adapted procedure. Theor Med. 1999, 20: 215-28.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Buntinx F, Paquay L, Fontaine O, Ylieff M, De Lepeleire : Options for a new procedure for determining care needs in Belgium: an initial exploration. Arch Publ Health. 2004, 62: 173-184.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Schoenmakers B, De Lepeleire J, Ylieff M, Fontaine O, Buntinx F: The burden of family care giving in dementia. Arch Publ Health. 2004, 62: 157-172.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Schulz R, O'Brien AT, Bookwala J, Fleissner K: Psychiatric and physical morbidity effects of dementia caregiving: prevalence, correlates, and causes. Gerontologist. 1995, 35: 771-791. 10.1093/geront/35.6.771.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Mausbach BT, Patterson TL, Von K, änel R, et al: The attenuating effect of personal mastery on the relations between stress and Alzheimer caregiver health: a five-year longitudinal analysis. Aging Ment Health. 2007, 11: 637-644. 10.1080/13607860701787043.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Sorensen S, Pinquart M, Duberstein P: How effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis. Gerontologist. 2002, 42: 356-372. 10.1093/geront/42.3.356.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Mittelman MS, Roth DL, Coon DW, Haley WE: Sustained benefit of supportive intervention for depressive symptoms in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Am J Psychiat. 2004, 161: 850-856. 10.1176/appi.ajp.161.5.850.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Schoenmakers B, Buntinx F, De Lepeleire J: Supporting the dementia family caregiver: the effect of interventions on general wellbeing. Aging Ment Healt. 2010, 14: 44-56. 10.1080/13607860902845533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. De Rotrou J, Cantegreil I, Faucounau V, et al: Do patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease benefit from a psycho-educational programme for family caregivers? A randomised controlled study. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2010

    Google Scholar 

  26. Schoenmakers B, Buntinx F, De Lepeleire J: Supporting Family Carers of Community-Dwelling Elder with cognitive decline: a Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Fam Med. 2010, 1-10. ID 184152

    Google Scholar 

  27. Glasziou PP, Irwig L, Aronson JK: Evidence-based medical monitoring. 2008, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing

    Book  Google Scholar 

Pre-publication history

Download references

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the administrative help of Marina Devis of the ACHG - KU Leuven.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Buntinx.

Additional information

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions

FB took the initiative for this paper. He co-ordinated the discussions and drafted the manuscript. FB, JDL, LP, SI and BS performed part of the research which lead to this paper. They took part in the discussions, read and commented upon the different drafts and approved the final version.

Authors’ original submitted files for images

Below are the links to the authors’ original submitted files for images.

Authors’ original file for figure 1

Rights and permissions

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buntinx, F., De Lepeleire, J., Paquay, L. et al. Diagnosing dementia: No easy job. BMC Fam Pract 12, 60 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-12-60

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-12-60

Keywords