Evaluating combinations of diagnostic tests to discriminate different dementia types
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Introduction: We studied, using a data-driven approach, how different combinations of diagnostic tests contribute to the differential diagnosis of dementia. Methods: In this multicenter study, we included 356 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 87 frontotemporal dementia, 61 dementia with Lewy bodies, 38 vascular dementia, and 302 controls. We used a classifier to assess accuracy for individual performance and combinations of cognitive tests, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, and automated magnetic resonance imaging features for pairwise differentiation between dementia types. Results: Cognitive tests had good performance in separating any type of dementia from controls. Cerebrospinal fluid optimally contributed to identifying Alzheimer's disease, whereas magnetic resonance imaging features aided in separating vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. Combining diagnostic tests increased the accuracy, with balanced accuracies ranging from 78% to 97%. Discussion: Different diagnostic tests have their distinct roles in differential diagnostics of dementias. Our results indicate that combining different diagnostic tests may increase the accuracy further.
Date Issued
2018-08-17
Date Acceptance
2018-08-01
Citation
Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, 2018, 10, pp.509-518
ISSN
2352-8729
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
509
End Page
518
Journal / Book Title
Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30320203
PII: S2352-8729(18)30043-5
Grant Number
611005
Subjects
Alzheimer's disease
Biomarkers
CSF
Clinical decision support system
Dementia with Lewy bodies
Diagnostic test assessment
Differential diagnosis
Frontotemporal dementia
MRI
Vascular dementia
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Date Publish Online
2018-08-17