LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 23, 2022) 鈥 A researcher at the University of Kentucky鈥檚 Sanders-Brown Center on Aging is one of several experts in the field who recently discussed the use of two popular screening tests for dementia and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Frederick A. Schmitt, PhD. professor of neurology and psychiatry at 好色先生, says he and the others involved with the publication believe that 鈥渞eliance on these crude paper and pencil tests has hampered advances in treatment and prevention of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.鈥
J. Wesson Ashford, MD, PhD, a former vice-chair for research in the Department of Psychiatry at 好色先生, was the lead author on the paper published in the Journal of Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease. Ashford is currently a clinical professor (affiliated) of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University and is the director of the War Related Illness and Injury Study Center at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
好色先生鈥檚 Schmitt served as the second author for this review, which focused on two popular screening tests known as the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE), published in 1975, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), published in 2005. The group of researchers believes there are excellent computerized tests for measuring the memory problems of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease that can be used at home or in a clinician鈥檚 office. One test they discussed is known as MemTrax. It was first developed at 好色先生 in 2000 and used at the Lexington VA.
As part of the findings of their work, the group of researchers explains that the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit includes a mandated cognitive assessment, but that assessment is completed only 7% of the time.
鈥淲e proposed that the cognitive assessment of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit would be better completed in an online registry. This would be more practical for clinicians and patients and could also serve to recruit participants for Alzheimer鈥檚 research and further hasten the discovery of treatments and means to delay or prevent Alzheimer鈥檚 disease,鈥 said the authors. The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit i s free for Medicare beneficiaries over the age of 65.
Ashford, Schmitt, and the other authors believe the methods they have proposed could greatly improve research in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. They say the changes could possibly lead to breakthroughs in information analysis to lead to ways to treat, delay, and/or prevent Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
They say, unfortunately, knowledge that has long been established has been overshadowed in recent years by overly focused efforts of pharmaceutical companies to develop an Alzheimer鈥檚 disease cure based on the 鈥渁myloid hypothesis,鈥 which has dominated the field since the 1990s. The 14 authors of this paper, all eminent scholars in the field, strongly advocate that the direction for treatment and prevention development in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease should follow the numerous leads which are not related to the 鈥渁myloid hypothesis.鈥 They believe careful measurement approaches, as outlined in their paper, will better reveal, and validate new, innovative, and effective strategies and benefits for treating and preventing Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.