Turkish version of the test your memory as a screening test in memory clinic

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Reza Naghdi Sadeh, Ozlem Akarsu, Cinar Yenilmez, Serhat Ozkan, Belgin Demet Ozbablik Adapinar, Ilknur Mavis and Hossein Jabbari Khamne

Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey
Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Acibadem University, Turkey
Anadolu University, Turkey
University of Tabriz, Iran

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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Introduction: Cognitively impaired patients especially with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) can be successfully screened using cognitive screening tools especially in combined versions and best specificity was observed with the combination of the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) and CDT (Clock Drawing Test) in patients with AD. But some disadvantages are observed like as insensitivity to the earliest changes in highly educated individuals or insensitivity to mild AD. Test Your Memory (TYM) introduced as an alternative for common tests in this filed specially in order to meet the criteria of minimal operator time to administrate, test a reasonable range of cognitive functions and to be sensitive to mild AD that makes it unique in this era.

Method: 100 subjects were recruited for the study from patients referred to our dementia clinic between December 2015 and August 2016. In addition to history taking and general physical examination, specialized neurological examination and structured psychiatric interview was done by specialized neurologist and psychiatrist in the field of dementia. Also laboratory workup, neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessment using MMSE, CDT and TYM-TR were completed in all patients. In this study we compared equivalent cognitive domains in Test Your Memory - Turkish Version (TYM-TR) neuropsychological test with the same domains in the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) test in previously clinically diagnosed demented patients according to DSM-5.

Result: The analysis of sub-scores of equivalent cognitive domains using paired T-Test demonstrated that there are significant differences in detecting cognitive deficits in registration, recall and visuospatial (only in Letter M drawing item) domains between two tests and the TYM-TR test is more sensitive in detecting cognitive deficit in the mentioned cognitive domains than MMSE test. Also according to Pearson correlation there are significant relationships between all equivalent cognitive domains.

Conclusion: There is emerging need to replace MMSE with some more efficient screening tools for early diagnosis of subtle neurocognitive changes in highly educated patients. TYM-TR is suitable screening tool in detecting subtle cognitive deficits in early stages of neurocognitive disorders. More complex screening tests can eradicate the ceiling effect of more simple tests but they have more floor effect in encountering with sever demented patients. Comparing these two tests with more detailed neuropsychological batteries could highlight the limitations of complex and simple tests in various situations.

Biography

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Reza Naghdi Sadeh is an experienced Psychiatrist skilled in clinical research, epidemiology, medicine, clinical trials and research. His research interest and focus is on cognitive neurology and dementia.

E-mail: r.naghdi@outlook.com