AI Article Synopsis

  • Researchers examined how communication patterns in dementia patients could differentiate between those with neurological disorders (ND) and functional memory disorder (FMD).
  • They developed a diagnostic scoring aid (DSA) and found significant scoring differences between ND and FMD patients, with a DSA cut-off that proved highly accurate.
  • The findings suggest that analyzing linguistic features can effectively help classify memory issues and improve patient diagnosis in clinical settings.

Article Abstract

Objective: Specialist services for dementia are seeing an increasing number of patients. We investigated whether interactional and linguistic features in the communication behavior of patients with memory problems could help distinguish between those with problems secondary to neurological disorders (ND) and those with functional memory disorder (FMD).

Methods: In part 1 of this study, a diagnostic scoring aid (DSA) was developed encouraging linguists to provide quantitative ratings for 14 interactional features. An optimal cut-off differentiating ND and FMD was established by applying the DSA to 30 initial patient-doctor memory clinic encounters. In part 2, the DSA was tested prospectively in 10 additional cases analyzed independently by 2 conversation analysts blinded to medical information.

Results: In part 1, the median score of the DSA was +5 in ND and -5 in FMD (P<0.001). The optimal numeric DSA cut-off (+1) identified patients with ND with a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 100%. In part 2, DSA scores of rater 1 correctly predicted 10/10 and those of rater 2 predicted 9/10 diagnoses.

Conclusions: This study indicates that interactional and linguistic features can help distinguish between patients developing dementia and those with FMD and could aid the stratification of patients with memory problems.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5912510PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0000000000000231DOI Listing

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