Family practice
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The prevalence of cognitive impairment is increasing due to the aging population, and early detection is essential clinically. The Ascertain Dementia 8 (AD8) questionnaire is a brief informant-based measure recently developed to assess early cognitive impairment, however, its overall diagnostic performance is controversial. The objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the AD8 for cognitive impairment. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the AD8 is a competitive tool for clinically screening cognitive impairment and has an optimal administration time in the busy primary care setting. Subjects with an AD8 score ≧2 should be highly suspected to have cognitive impairment and a further definite diagnosis is needed.
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Digital health interventions, such as those that can be delivered via smartphone applications (apps) or wireless blood pressure monitors, offer a new, scalable and potentially cost-effective way to improve hypertension self-management. In Ireland, as is common in the UK, the majority of hypertension management occurs in general practice. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate how general practitioners (GPs) feel about and engage with the growth of these new methods of self-management of blood pressure. ⋯ GPs could see the benefit of using these technologies, such as more accurate blood pressure data and potential to engage patients in self-management. Concerns relating to the increased workload associated with a potentially unmanageable quantity of information and an increase in healthcare use among the 'worried well' also emerged strongly from the data.