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Dementia monitoring device a reliable screening tool
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Researchers have developed a patient self-reporting monitor that resembles a blood pressure cuff to measure cognition, functional and psychological symptoms in a primary care setting, according to a press release.
The Healthy Aging Brain Care Monitor allows clinicians to measure 27 items on a 4-point scale to assess patients’ cognitive, functional and psychological symptoms and track patients’ scores over time.
Malaz Boustani
More specifically, cognitive measures recognize the patients’ ability to determine the correct month and year, ability to memorize, and competence in handling financial affairs. Functional measurements include a patients’ ability to learn to use a tool, appliance or gadget and ability to plan or prepare meals, bathe, shop, and go about regular household chores. Scores on depression, anxiety, irritability and appetite fall under the psychological measurements, according to the press release.
In a study assessing the patient self-reporting system’s reliability, Malaz Boustani, MD, MPH, medical director of the Eskenazi Health Center, Healthy Aging Brain Center, and colleagues examined 291 patients with a mean age of 72 years.
They found that the patient-reported data provided accurate readings of the patients’ cognitive, functional and psychological well-being, according to the press release.
“Depression, anxiety and inability to cope with demands of daily living are common in older adults. The patient self-reporting version of the [Healthy Aging Brain Care] Monitor helps busy physicians accurately measure and monitor the severity of symptoms, providing valuable information that the patient's entire care team needs,” Boustani said in a press release.
For more information:
Monahan PO. Clin Interv Aging. 2014;doi:10.2147/CIA.S64140.
Disclosure: The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R24MH080827) and from the National Institute on Aging (R01AG043465-01A1). The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.