New, free, screening tool aims to catch dementia in the bud

Australian researchers have developed a screening tool which can identify early signs of dementia, leading to earlier treatment interventions.

The researchers say their tool, a questionnaire people fill in themselves, can detect moderate to severe levels of cognitive decline with 99.9% accuracy.

“This tool is particularly useful for detecting cognitive decline related to neurodegenerative processes, such as the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” says lead researcher Professor Hamid Sohrabi, a researcher at the Health Futures Institute in Murdoch University.

The tool, called the McCusker Subjective Cognitive Impairment Inventory, or McSCI, is a 46-question self-assessment.

It consists of statements like ‘I am not as organised as I used to be’, and  ‘When speaking, I have difficulty finding the right words’, which respondents rank on a 5-point scale from ‘Almost always true’ to ‘Almost never true’.

These statements cross 6 cognitive domains – memory, language, orientation, attention and concentration, visuoconstruction abilities (fine motor skills with spatial awareness), and executive function – and together can help to assess if a respondent shows early signs of dementia.

“Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is essential for treatments to be effective – McSCi is a powerful tool to screen individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia,” says collaborator Professor Ralph Martins, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research Australia, which provided funding to the project.

Currently, more than 400,000 Australians have dementia. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare predicts this number will double by the 2050s to more than 800,000.

While there are other assessment tools for cognitive decline, the researchers say that their tool has much higher reliability and validity.

In a study with 526 participants, published in Age and Ageing, the tool was able to identify people with above-average levels of subjective cognitive decline with 99.9% accuracy.

“The McSCI will eliminate the guessing game for clinicians and will give peace of mind to individuals and their families,” says Sohrabi.

“Imagine if you could predict your risk for dementia well before it takes hold, and you could start treatment and stop the disease from progressing?”