This project will address the need for a practical and valid assessment method which can be used by community physicians to enhance the recognition and diagnosis of dementia. The assessment method entitled the """"""""Brief Instrument for Dementia Detection (BIDD)"""""""" to be used in this project will contain specific items identified from our current longitudinal research studies which are determined to best discriminate dementia from nondemented aging. These items will be combined into a brief clinical assessment tool for use by practicing physicians. The long-term objective is to validate that successful informant-based research clinical assessment procedures can be adapted to improve detection of dementia in the community. Currently, dementia is underdiagnosed in the community. Community physicians overwhelming request the availability of clear, time efficient assessment protocols to aid the recognition of dementia. Specifically: 1. This project will develop a sensitive, portable dementia assessment instrument from key items derived from a collateral source-based research dementia protocol. 2. Health care professionals will be trained about dementia, dementia therapy, and the administration and interpretation of the brief assessment tool called BIDD through the newly established Urban Partner's Program. 3. The BIDD will be refined and tested for cultural sensitivity in a pilot study using a population-based sample enrolled in the """"""""Physical frailty in urban African Americans"""""""". 4. Evaluate the efficacy of the BIDD in detecting dementia in older adults (75 years old or older) by studying the change from baseline in the frequency of dementia diagnosis and treatment in St. Louis County Health Center patients and the increased request for dementia services from the Alzheimers Association. Also validity of the BIDD will studied by evaluating a randomly selected subset of Health Center patients and the population-based research subject sample with our research dementia assessment protocol to yield a """"""""gold standard"""""""" diagnosis of dementia for comparison with the BIDD-derived diagnosis.
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