Title:The Test Your Memory (TYM) Test Outperforms the MMSE in the Detection of MCI and Dementia
Volume: 14
Issue: 6
Author(s): Elizabeth van de Zande, Joseph Cornelis Maria van de Nes, Ingeborg Jansen, Margje Nouelle van den Berg, Anne Floor Zwart, Daniel Bimmel, Gerrit Tjalling Rijkers and Gerda Andringa*
Affiliation:
- University College Roosevelt, Department of Science, P.O. Box 94, 4330 AB Middelburg,Netherlands
Keywords:
Test your memory test, mini-mental state examination, early detection, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive
impairment.
Abstract: Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and clinical usability
of a Dutch translation of the Test Your Memory (TYM) test in patients with mild cognitive impairment
(MCI) and dementia as compared to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), in the setting
of the memory clinic of a general hospital.
Methods: Fourty-two participants referred to the memory clinic with memory problems and fourty-two
healthy controls were assessed using the TYM and the MMSE. We evaluated the sensitivity, specificity
and diagnostic accuracy of the TYM and MMSE. Both instruments were tested against recently established
clinical diagnostic criteria of MCI, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD).
Results: The TYM demonstrated to be more sensitive in detecting dementia than the MMSE. The TYM
also was better at discriminating between healthy controls and patients with MCI than the MMSE.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that the TYM is more suitable as a practical tool for the early detection of
dementia than the MMSE.
