Comparison of clinical state, retrospective informant interview and the neuropathologic diagnosis of alzheimer's disease

✍ Scribed by L. D. Thomas; M. F. Gonzales; A. Chamberlain; K. Beyreuther; C. L. Masters; Dr. L. Flicker

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 300 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930090309

✦ Synopsis

This study compared clinical diagnosis of dementia derived from medical records and a retrospective version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) against the criterion of neuropathology. Subjects comprised 50 consecutive patients who died in a geriatric hospital in Melbourne and underwent necropsy. All informants were seen within 3.5 years of death. Discordance between clinical and pathological diagnosis occurred in seven (14%) cases. The IQCODE scores for the group with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (mean f SD) were 4.28 f 0.78 and were significantly different from the non-demented group, 3.39 f 0.51, p < 0.001. Similarly, IQCODE scores were significantly different between the groups with and without a pathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, 4.21 f 0.70 and 3.51 f 0.79 respectively, p < 0.01. Using immunohistochemical techniques instead of conventional methods to make a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, there were significant differences in IQCODE scores between the Alzheimer's group, 4.13 f 0.83, and the group with normal neuropathology, 3.45 f 0 . 5 4 , ~ < 0.01. These data support the conclusion that when used retrospectively, the IQCODE is a valid screening test for dementia using neuropathological diagnosis as the criterion.