Clive Holmes1, Simon Lovestone. 1. University of Southampton, Clinical Neurosciences Research Division, Memory Assessment and Research Centre, Moorgreen Hospital, Botley Road, Southampton SO30 3JB, UK. ch4@soton.ac.uk
Abstract
BACKGROUND: National Institute of Clinical Excellence guidelines advocate the use of the Mini-Mental Test Examination and a functional assessment as a means of measuring treatment response. However, there is little knowledge of the change expected in those with Alzheimer's disease in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: to describe the long-term variability of the Mini-Mental Test Examination and Blessed Dementia Rating Scale. METHOD: 374 Alzheimer's disease patients referred to psychiatric services in southeast London were followed annually over a 3-year period. RESULTS: the mean Mini-Mental Test Examination score for the total group at baseline was 9.9 points. Individual variability in the rate of cognitive and functional decline is large and around 40% of patients after 1 year, and up to one-quarter of patients after 3 years who survived, show no change or an improvement in scores compared with baseline measures. CONCLUSIONS: in the evaluation of individual treatment response the rate of change, as measured by the Mini-Mental Test Examination and Blessed Dementia Rating Scale, is of limited value.
BACKGROUND: National Institute of Clinical Excellence guidelines advocate the use of the Mini-Mental Test Examination and a functional assessment as a means of measuring treatment response. However, there is little knowledge of the change expected in those with Alzheimer's disease in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: to describe the long-term variability of the Mini-Mental Test Examination and Blessed Dementia Rating Scale. METHOD: 374 Alzheimer's diseasepatients referred to psychiatric services in southeast London were followed annually over a 3-year period. RESULTS: the mean Mini-Mental Test Examination score for the total group at baseline was 9.9 points. Individual variability in the rate of cognitive and functional decline is large and around 40% of patients after 1 year, and up to one-quarter of patients after 3 years who survived, show no change or an improvement in scores compared with baseline measures. CONCLUSIONS: in the evaluation of individual treatment response the rate of change, as measured by the Mini-Mental Test Examination and Blessed Dementia Rating Scale, is of limited value.
Authors: M E Soto; S Andrieu; C Arbus; M Ceccaldi; P Couratier; T Dantoine; J-F Dartigues; S Gillette-Guyonnet; F Nourhashemi; P-J Ousset; M Poncet; F Portet; J Touchon; B Vellas Journal: J Nutr Health Aging Date: 2008-12 Impact factor: 4.075
Authors: C Holmes; C Ballard; D Lehmann; A David Smith; H Beaumont; I N Day; M Nadeem Khan; S Lovestone; M McCulley; C M Morris; D G Munoz; K O'Brien; C Russ; T Del Ser; D Warden Journal: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry Date: 2005-05 Impact factor: 10.154