Are Primary Care Physicians Able to Assess Dementia? An Estimation of Their Capacity After a Short-Term Training Program in Rural Crete

Abstract

TO THE EDITOR: We read with interest the paper of Aupperle and Coyne, which appeared in the spring 2000 issue of the Journal. 1. Aupperle P Coyne A Primary vs. subspecialty care: a structured follow-up of dementia patients and their caregivers. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2000; 8: 167-170 Google Scholar Although several methodological concerns were raised, as the authors noted, this study delineates some statistical differences between the Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients seen by primary care physicians and those seen by specialists. In Greece, a European country with the recent development of community-oriented primary care, there is little information about the extent of the problem of AD and other mental disorders. 2. Argyriadou S Melissopoulou H Krania E et al. Dementia and depression: two frequent disorders of the aged in primary health care in Greece. Fam Pract. 2001; 18: 87-91 Google Scholar There, the effectiveness of primary health care (PHC) physicians in both early diagnosis and management of AD has, as yet, not been studied thoroughly, but the need for better education and training has already been identified. 3. Lionis C Vlachonicolis J Chatsiarsenis M et al. Managing Alzheimer's disease in primary care in Crete, Greece: room for outcome improvement. Quality Managed Health Care. 2001; 9: 16-21 Google Scholar , 4. Lionis C Trell E Health needs assessment in general practice: the Cretan approach. European Journal of General Practice. 1999; 5: 75-77 Google Scholar In Europe, some efforts for the evaluation of the ability of general practitioners (GPs) to diagnose dementia, compared with the specialists, show that GPs are able to make appropriate selection for referral, but that the support of the specialists is still essential. 5. Van Hout H Vernooij-Dassen M Poels P et al. Are general practitioners able to accurately diagnose dementia and identify Alzheimer's disease? a comparison with an outpatient memory clinic. Br J Gen Pract. 2000; 50: 311-312 Google Scholar