Abstract

MORENO MORENO, Lizet Paola; MATALLANA ESLAVA, Diana Lucia  and  CANO GUTIERREZ, Carlos Alberto. Current diagnostic challenges from an analysis of social-demographic characteristics of 2453 patients in a Memory and Cognition Hospital. Acta Neurol Colomb. [online]. 2015, vol.31, n.1, pp.27-38. ISSN 0120-8748.  https://doi.org/10.22379/242240225.

Introduction and objectives : The number of patients in earlier stages of the disease who consult to the memory clinic has increased. This poses a challenge to differentiate, not only between types of dementia, but also between conditions which may share characteristics with dementia-related illnesses. Starting from a descriptive study the current diagnostic challenges are proposed in order to then analyze sociodemographic characteristics, the results of assessment and diagnosis made by consensus of the patients who were attended for the first time in the memory clinic program at the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio in Bogotá, Colombia (CM PUJ-HUSI). Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on the group of patients who were attended for the first time in the CM PUJ-HUSI, from September 1996 to May 2014. Results: Alzheimer's dementia is the most frequent diagnosis (43,45%), but frontotemporal dementia has been increasing over the years, with less psychiatric diagnoses. The scales applied for the evaluation of the patients are, in different proportions, altered in all groups of patients, including those who were considered normal. Conclusions: The changes in the type of patients referred to the CMPUJ-HUSI, generate important insights related to a greater need to clarify neurodegenerative diseases (EN) or early onset dementia (DIT), with more precise diagnostic tools, such as the interview and instruments to evaluate the conduct, behavior or social cognition.

Keywords : Alzheimer disease; Dementia; Frontotemporal dementia; Memory.

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