Comparison of diagnostic routines for suspected Alzheimer’s Disease patients between US‐American and German health care providers

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThorough diagnostics are a prerequisite for the optimal treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. Biomarker‐based diagnostics are now standard within a research framework. On the contrary, data on diagnostic workups applied by physicians in their everyday clinical practice is scarce.MethodTwo surveys were conducted on the diagnostic actions taken by physicians when faced with patients with AD suspicion. The sample consisted of German (n = 500) and American (n = 100) health care providers, both specialists and non‐specialists.ResultGerman specialists more often conduct neuropsychological testing themselves than their American colleagues (p<0.001). Likewise, in German non‐specialists, neuropsychological testing elsewhere is recommended almost twice as often compared to US physicians (p<0.0001). In contrast, US non‐specialists perform lumbar punctures for CSF analysis themselves twelve times more often than their German colleagues (p<0.0001). Furthermore, they are more than three times as likely to recommend CSF analysis elsewhere than German non‐specialists (p<0.0001). Similarly, US non‐specialists significantly more often recommend patients to have a PET scan with a 4.7‐fold difference (p = 0.0007).ConclusionDiagnostic routines for suspected AD patients are in large parts alike between German and US‐American health care providers. However, when it comes to gathering neurobiological evidence through the means of biomarker‐based CSF or PET diagnostics, German doctors significantly less perform and prescribe these measures.