Chapter 11 - Mini-Mental State Examination for the Detection and Prediction of Dementia in People with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Summary

Screening for dementia is usually considered important, but only if accuracy of detection is sufficient and treatments are available and effective. In the National Dementia Strategy for England, one of the three main areas promoted was early diagnosis with acknowledgement that much of this role falls to primary care. The majority of dementia and pre-dementia cases in the community and in primary care remain undetected. One in three of those diagnosed remains unaware of their diagnosis. GPs in the UK are encouraged actively to look for people with dementia through annual screening as well an opportunistic testing of older people attending primary care with any significant health concern. The UK government has also encouraged case finding for dementia on acute admission to secondary care services using a dementia CQUIN (Commissioning for Quality and Innovation) which meant that overall, between 80% and 90% of patients aged 75 years and over were screened and assessed.