Early Dementia Questionnaire (EDQ): A New Screening Instrument for Early Dementia in Primary Care in Egypt

Abstract

Background: Early Dementia Questionnaire was developed to detect patients with early dementia in primary care, EDQ had been shown to be a promising alternative for screening of early dementia. Objectives: To validate Early Dementia Questionnaire (EDQ) and comparing it with standard assessment tool, The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting and Participants: The study included 220 elder adults (both men and women) recruited from a primary healthcare center (Bassateen Gharb), the outpatient geriatric clinic at Ain Shams University hospitals and Mabarat Talaat Harb elderly club in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a group of elderly patients using systematic random sampling. Elderly depression was excluded using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Diagnosed cases of dementia and other mental and psychiatric disorders were excluded from the study. A face-to-face interview was done using Early Dementia Questionnaire (EDQ) with the participants to elicit symptoms of early dementia. The participants were then assessed with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) using variable cut-off points according to age and educational level. Results: Prevalence of dementia among the study participants was 81.5% by EDQ and 19.5% by MMSE. The EDQ demonstrated a sensitivity of 97.7% with specificity of 22.6%. Positive predictive value of EDQ was 23.5% with the negative predictive value of 97.6%. A significant association was found between possible dementia, hypertension, nutrition and urinary incontinence. Conclusion: The EDQ is a sensitive tool for screening of early dementia.