Abstract
BackgroundDetecting and treating dementia at an early stage are important. Although the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) is commonly used to detect dementia, it takes about 10 min to complete. In contrast, the 1-min animal test (OMAT) takes only 1 min to complete and may be a helpful screening test for general practitioners in deciding whether to proceed with administering further diagnostic tests such as the HDS-R. We sought to examine the relationship between the OMAT and HDS-R scores, and determine the cut-off OMAT score that balanced the sensitivity and specificity in identifying HDS-R-positive patients.MethodsA total of 122 consecutive patients with diabetes who visited the outpatient clinic at the Fujiidera Municipal Hospital were enrolled. The patients underwent the OMAT and HDS-R on the same day. Tests were conducted in a single-blinded manner. The relationship between the OMAT and HDS-R scores was examined using Spearman’s rank correlation. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to identify the optimal cut-off score of OMAT that will determine whether to proceed with further diagnostic tests.ResultsA strong positive correlation between the OMAT and HDS-R scores was observed (r = 0.70). The sensitivity and specificity of OMAT using cut-off scores of 12/13, 13/14, and 14/15 for HDS-R-positive patients were 0.87 and 0.66, 1.00 and 0.51, and 1.00 and 0.40, respectively among all the subjects. Similar results were obtained in a subgroup of subjects aged ≥ 65 years.ConclusionsA cut-off score of 13/14 on the OMAT balanced the sensitivity closest to 1.00 and allowed for the highest specificity for the HDS-R not only among all the patients, but also among just the patients aged ≥ 65 years. The OMAT may be an optimal screening test to determine whether to proceed with further diagnosis using HDS-R.Trial registration UMIN UMIN000025260. This study is retrospectively registered on December 13th, 2016
Highlights
Detecting and treating dementia at an early stage are important
The early symptoms of dementia are difficult to detect for the patients and their families, and for general practitioners. It takes about 10 min to complete the frequently used tests such as the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) [4, 5] or the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) [6], which is often difficult to spare in busy out-patient clinical settings
We examined the correlation between the OMAT and HDS-R scores, as well as the OMAT cut-off score to determine whether to proceed with administering the HDS-R, among all the patients and in a subgroup of patients aged 65 years or greater
Summary
The Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) is commonly used to detect dementia, it takes about 10 min to complete. It is important to perform screening tests for dementia at an early stage so that patients with dementia can be treated as early as possible to avert the progression of dementia-related behaviors and symptoms, and reduce medical, economic, and social burden alike. The early symptoms of dementia are difficult to detect for the patients and their families, and for general practitioners It takes about 10 min to complete the frequently used tests such as the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) [4, 5] or the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) [6], which is often difficult to spare in busy out-patient clinical settings
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