British researchers have devised a memory test which doubles the chances of detecting early dementia. The Test Your Memory (TYM) method is so simple that patients could be taught to do it themselves.
It takes just five minutes to carry out and detects 93 per cent of cases of Alzheimer’s. This makes it almost twice as effective as the existing test - which is also more complex and takes longer at detecting which people need further investigation.
The TYM test assesses those with memory problems on ten measures, including copying a sentence, calculations, verbal fluency and recall of a copied sentence. The researchers looked at 540 people aged 18 to 95 without memory problems, and 139 patients attending a memory clinic for dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
Healthy volunteers gained an average score of 47 out of 50 on the TYM test. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease had consistently lower marks, with an average score of 33 out of 50.
Here are some sample questions:
* Who is the Prime Minister?
* Why is a carrot like a potato?
* Why is a lion like a wolf?
* In what year did WW1 start?
* Please list four creatures beginning with ‘S’ eg. shark
* Sums: 20-4= 16+17= 8X6= 4+15-17=
[Source]
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11 August 2009
