|  | Conditions Treatments | Alzheimers

Test for Cognitive Digression of Alzheimers Patients

Alzheimer's Disease is a degenerative condition that results in severe dementia--a decline or digression in cognitive functions. Symptoms may include increased forgetfulness, language problems, and impaired reasoning and motor skills. The mini mental status exam is the most common test to identify this type of decline.

  1. Function

    • The function of the mini mental status exam is to provide a quick means of measuring cognitive function and determining if additional testing for cognitive decline is warranted.

    Structure

    • The mini mental status exam is comprised of series of questions and tasks that test several areas of cognitive function. The Chicago Tribune reports that patients may be asked to name objects and identify the year.

    Scoring

    • The test is scored out of 30 points. Any score below a 24 is considered to be indicative of decline in cognitive function.

    Limitations

    • The test does have limitations, the most prominent of which is that is does not consistently identify those with mild levels of decline. This limits its usefulness as a screening tool.

    Future

    • Other exams are periodically developed to measure cognitive decline and may replace the mini mental status exam. The Chicago Tribune notes one possible replacement exam named Test Your Memory, which claims a rate of 93% accuracy.

Alzheimers - Related Articles