2007: Experts Recommend Personality Tests To Quickly Detect Dementia With Lewy Bodies

Sometimes my ability to uncover information astounds me. 

I'm always researching but realize the internet is often "the luck of the draw" and thankfully my "luck" is high when it comes to finding very necessary information on Dementia and other subjects related to Seniors.

The following is a selection from the website:  http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/9560.aspx#.UG2PJYp39wY.email and I've taken the liberty to highlight sections I've found most valuable.

The date is May of 2007. I'm speechless. In 2012 when I started this blog I couldn't find information and yet the same general resource, Washington University in St Louis who is associated with BJC and Barnes Hospital where my Mom was diagnosed with possible LBD, had this information in their files.

This blog is for you if you're looking for somewhere to turn where someone is dedicated to finding and citing specifics often buried under tons of other papers yet so prevalent to making choices and decisions about yourself or someone you love who's aging.

"Washington University St Louis

Personality changes may help detect form of dementia

May 29, 2007

By Michael Purdy

A simple personality test could help doctors more quickly detect dementia with Lewy bodies, a form of dementia often confused with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is the second most common neurodegenerative cause of dementia. It shares many characteristics with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Getting the correct diagnosis is important because some medications used to treat the mental health symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can be potentially dangerous for people with dementia with Lewy bodies.

“Patients with Lewy body dementia often have hallucinations and other behavioral problems, so they’re frequently treated with antipsychotic drugs early in the course of their illness,” says lead author James Galvin, M.D., assistant professor of neurology. “However, some types of antipsychotic drugs may put them at risk of serious side effects, so it’s important for physicians to be able to quickly determine who has Lewy body dementia.”

Such side effects include neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a condition where muscles become rigid and the body’s ability to regulate its own heat production breaks down. This can lead to renal failure and death.

The study appears in the May 29 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

In Alzheimer’s disease, a protein known as amyloid accumulates in the brain. Amyloid is also often found in the brain in patients with Lewy body dementias, but the key diagnostic indicator is the presence of aggregates of the protein alpha-synuclein in brain cells. These clumps are called Lewy bodies.

Lewy body dementia can cause fainting, hallucinations, Parkinson’s-like symptoms such as tremor, rigidity and motor impairment, intermittent alterations in attention and awareness, and memory loss.

The study involved 290 people who were part of a larger study and were tested every year for an average of about five years. 

By the end of the study, 128 of the participants had confirmed cases of dementia with Lewy bodies, 128 had Alzheimer’s and 34 had no form of dementia. 

Researchers followed the participants through death, including autopsy results. During annual interviews, participants or their family members were asked about changes in personality, interests and drives.

BLOG AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Interesting. A five year study. This was written in 2007 so that would be a study that started in 2002. 

Why hasn't more information been placed predominately in the press about this disease that's obviously been important enough to be studied by a world class educational institution focused on medical studies.

BLOG AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I've taken the liberty of highlighting the following passages:

Even prior to diagnosis, researchers more often found passive personality changes in people with dementia with Lewy bodies than people with Alzheimer’s. Such changes included diminished emotional response, disinterest in hobbies, repetitive behaviors, and growing apathy, or lack of interest.

People with dementia with Lewy bodies were two times more likely to have passive personality traits at the time of the first evaluation than people with Alzheimer’s disease. By the time of death, up to 75 percent of those with dementia with Lewy bodies had passive personality changes compared to 45 percent of those with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Currently we mainly look for memory problems and other cognitive problems to detect dementia, but personality changes can often occur several years before the cognitive problems,” says Galvin. “Identifying the earliest features of dementia may enable doctors to begin therapy as soon as possible. This will become increasingly important as newer, potentially disease-modifying medications are developed. It also gives the patient and family members more time to plan for the progressive decline.”

Galvin said more detailed personality tests are not often used in most office settings because of time and lack of training. “Our results show incorporating a brief, simple inventory of personality traits may help improve the detection of dementia with Lewy bodies,” said Galvin.

IMPORTANT:  Missouri Medicaid requires the Mini Mensa be administered to recipients residing in Long Term Care facilities on a regular basis.

This test is often cited as being inaccurate and not a good basis for accessing the mental abilities of individuals with Lewy Body Dementia.

Why hasn't this possible "test" cited in the article replaced the Mini Mensa? 

My Mom had all of these "signs" and I'm just now learning they were hallmarks of the disease. It brings me to tears. So much time passed, she endured so much and so did we because no one cared enough to want to learn more about Lewy Body Dementia.

Long Term Care facilities aren't there to really provide medical care as is their cited purpose; if they were, there would be more research by Administrators, Head Nurses and especially the Doctors who are "admitted to practice" at the Long Term Care facilities.

My professional life isn't medicine and I don't work every day with individuals in need of my learning and becoming more knowledgeable about ageing. They do. It's their job to know and their job to provide accurate information. 

LIVES DEPEND ON THEIR ACTIONS AND REACTIONS. 

Without knowing these "personality" traits each aspect of the life they administer and create is cause for escalating the disease due to their failure to treat it accurately.

After all, if Lewy Body Dementia is the second leading type of Dementia, shouldn't there be a movement within the medical community to ensure a more accurate means of assessment is used within Long Term Care facilities?

How many more will waste away in Long Term Care facilities because we continue to shelve them and don't care enough to share information about the most basic and prevalent information concerning the health and welfare of Seniors.

If they and we don't know Lewy Body Dementia, the second most prevalent Dementia can probably be identified and worked with at a much earlier stage, are we providing a quality of life in these United States that measures up to our claims to be the best nation on earth for its residents?