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Population screening and the early detection of dementing disorders in old age: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Brian Cooper  and
Horst Bickel
Brian Cooper*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiological Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany
Horst Bickel
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiological Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany
*
1 Address for correspondence: Prof. Dr B. Cooper Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, D-6800 Mannheim 1, Postfach 5970, Federal Republic of Germany.
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Synopsis

The scope for the early detection of dementing disorders in the elderly by means of screening techniques is reviewed in the light of the basic principles of early disease detection. It is concluded that, while there is an increasingly urgent need for the development and application of psychogeriatric screening methods as a step towards preventive action, such methods are still at an early experimental stage. Prescriptive screening programmes are contra-indicated at present. The most immediate requirement is for evaluative research, which should be planned to take account both of the properties of the screening instruments and of the health-care and social settings in which these are to be applied. No major progress in this field can be expected unless it proves possible to integrate methods of early case-detection, and of systematic surveillance of the at-risk elderly, into the work of primary medical and social services.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 81 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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