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    Screening by Primary-Care Doctors May Spot Dementia

    HealthDay – Mon, Feb 13, 2012

    MONDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Routine screening at primary care clinics led to a two- to threefold increase in diagnoses of brain-function impairments such as dementia in older veterans, researchers say.

    The new study included more than 8,000 U.S. veterans aged 70 and older who agreed to undergo a brief screening during a routine visit to a VA primary care clinic. None of the veterans showed signs of memory loss.

    Of the 2,081 (26 percent) who failed the screening, 580 (28 percent) agreed to further evaluation. Of those, 93 percent were found to have brain-function impairment, including 75 percent with dementia.

    This type of mental decline, known as "cognitive" impairment, causes a reduction in skills such as memory, learning and thinking beyond what's expected with normal aging.

    The researchers noted that 118 patients who passed the initial screening requested further evaluation, and 87 percent were found to have some mental decline, including 70 percent with dementia.

    The study is published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

    "Our study demonstrates that proactive strategies such as routine screening are well-accepted and effective in diagnosing cognitive impairment, and that primary care providers value the diagnostic and management services involved," noted study leader Dr. J. Riley McCarten, of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and the University of Minnesota, in a journal news release.

    "This project has implications for strategies that seek to improve care and contain costs in dementia," McCarten added.

    The study findings contradict the current standard recommendations by the American College of Physicians, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and Alzheimer's Association. They discourage routine screening for dementia on all older patients at a certain age. Screening is only recommended if a patient sees a doctor about some type of problem that could be due to dementia.

    More information

    The Alzheimer's Association offers an overview of mild cognitive impairment.

     

    2 comments

    • Dan
      Dan  •  Louisville, Kentucky  •  3 mths ago
      Far as I know there is little treatment available for dementia and nothihng that stops or reverses the progression of the disease. About all the screening can accomplish is to strip seniors of their rights earlier by having them declared incompetent. Last year, the NIH spent three times as much money on research for finding cures for AIDS as it did for finding cures for Alzheimers, even though an estimated 5 times as many people will contract Alsheimers as will contract AIDS and the fact that contracting AIDS can be avoided. There is no way of avoiding Alzheimers because the cause is not known.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  3 mths ago
      If screening catches them, who will be left to vote Santorum?
     Post a comment
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