Articles: dementia.
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Recent work has documented the existence of the syndrome of pseudodementia. The authors present four cases of depressive pseudodementia, two without associated dementing illnesses and two that occurred in the context of dementing illnesses. ⋯ They also document the coexistence of pseudodementia with "true" dementia. The authors discuss diagnostic and management issues for clinicians treating patients with pseudodementia and depressive illness.
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Psychological medicine · May 1982
Limits of the 'Mini-Mental State' as a screening test for dementia and delirium among hospital patients.
With a psychiatrist's standardized clinical diagnosis as the criterion, the 'Mini-Mental State' Examination (MMSE) was 87% sensitive and 82% specific in detecting dementia and delirium among hospital patients on a general medical ward. The false positive ratio was 39% and the false negative ratio was 5%. ⋯ Performance on specific MMSE items was related to education or age. These findings confirm the MMSE's value as a screen instrument for dementia and delirium when later, more intensive diagnostic enquiry is possible; they reinforce earlier suggestions that the MMSE alone cannot yield a diagnosis for these conditions.