New tests for dementia

In this issue of Neurology , there are three articles relevant to the assessment of cognitive impairment. Dufouil et al.1 provide new population norms for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in the very old; Mathuranath et al.2 describe a brief cognitive test battery useful in assessing dementia and potentially of value in distinguishing AD from frontotemporal dementia (FTD); and Dubois et al.3 present a Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) intended to aid in recognition and characterization of frontal lobe syndromes. Why is there continuous research into improved methods for assessing mental status changes in elderly and cognitively impaired individuals? First, the growth of the size of the aged population in all societies carries with it an increasing number of individuals with cognitive impairment and dementia syndromes. These articles—two from the United Kingdom and one from France—are a partial response to the growing need to better identify and characterize dementing disorders. Second, there has been progress in identifying more diverse etiologies of dementia in late middle aged and elderly patients. There is increasing attention to distinguishing dementia with Lewy bodies, FTD, and other dementing disorders from AD. Two of these articles2,3⇓ address differential diagnostic issues. Third, treatments are available …