Decision making under uncertainty in the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer's Disease in primary care: A study protocol applying concepts from neuroeconomics.

Background: The current management of patients with Dementia, primarily with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is rapidly evolving. However, limited information is available about the current gaps and decision-making in primary care.

Objectives: To evaluate factors associated with gaps, risk preferences regarding diagnostic and therapeutic choices in the management of patients with AD by primary care physicians (PCP) from across Canada.

Methods: We propose a non-interventional, cross-sectional pilot study involving 120 primary care physicians referred from the College of Family Physicians of Canada to assess diagnostic and therapeutic decisions in the management of ten simulated AD-related case-scenarios commonly encountered in clinical practice. We initially describe the current landscape and gaps regarding diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in the management of patients with AD in primary care. Then, we provide concepts from behavioral economics and neuroeconomics applied to medical decision-making. Specifically, we include standardized tests to measure risk aversion, physicians' reactions to uncertainty, and questions related to risk preferences in different domains. Finally, we summarize the protocol to be implemented to address our goals. The primary study outcome is the proportion of participants that elect to defer initial investigations to the specialist and the associated factors. Secondary outcomes include the proportion of PCP willing to order cerebral spinal fluid studies, PET scans, or initiate treatment according to the simulated case-scenarios. The study will be conducted in English and French.

Conclusions: The study findings will contribute a better understanding of relevant factors associated with diagnostic and therapeutic decisions of PCP in the management of AD, identifying participant's preferences and evaluating the role of behavioral aspects such tolerance to uncertainty, aversion to ambiguity, and therapeutic inertia.