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Post-Mortem diagnosis of dementia by informant interview

Authors :
Renata Eloah de Lucena Ferretti
Antonio Eduardo Damin
Sonia Maria Dozzi Brucki
Lilian Schafirovits Morillo
Tibor Rilho Perroco
Flávia Campora
Eliza Guccione Moreira
Érika Silvério Balbino
Maria do Carmo de Ascenção Lima
Camila Battela
Lumena Ruiz
Lea Tenenholz Grinberg
José Marcelo Farfel
Renata Elaine Paraiso Leite
Claudia Kimie Suemoto
Carlos Augusto Pasqualucci
Sérgio Rosemberg
Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva
Wilson Jacob-Filho
Ricardo Nitrini
Source :
Dementia & Neuropsychologia, Vol 4, Iss 2, Pp 138-144
Publisher :
Associação Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento.

Abstract

Abstract The diagnosis of normal cognition or dementia in the Brazilian Brain Bank of the Aging Brain Study Group (BBBABSG) has relied on postmortem interview with an informant. Objectives: To ascertain the sensitivity and specificity of postmortem diagnosis based on informant interview compared against the diagnosis established at a memory clinic. Methods: A prospective study was conducted at the BBBABSG and at the Reference Center for Cognitive Disorders (RCCD), a specialized memory clinic of the Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo Medical School. Control subjects and cognitively impaired subjects were referred from the Hospital das Clínicas to the RCCD where subjects and their informants were assessed. The same informant was then interviewed at the BBBABSG. Specialists' panel consensus, in each group, determined the final diagnosis of the case, blind to other center's diagnosis. Data was compared for frequency of diagnostic equivalence. For this study, the diagnosis established at the RCCD was accepted as the gold standard. Sensitivity and specificity were computed. Results: Ninety individuals were included, 45 with dementia and 45 without dementia (26 cognitively normal and 19 cognitively impaired but non-demented). The informant interview at the BBBABSG had a sensitivity of 86.6% and specificity of 84.4% for the diagnosis of dementia, and a sensitivity of 65.3% and specificity of 93.7% for the diagnosis of normal cognition. Conclusions: The informant interview used at the BBBABSG has a high specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of dementia as well as a high specificity for the diagnosis of normal cognition.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19805764
Volume :
4
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Dementia & Neuropsychologia
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.36544ffb2c3d4c09b7591228fd37ba95
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-57642010DN40200011