Use of Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) for the Detection of Dementia in Primary Care

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CURRENT SELECTION

Abdulrahman H, Jansen E, Hoevenaar-Blom M, van Dalen JW, van Wanrooij LL, van Bussel E, et al. Diagnostic accuracy of the telephone interview for cognitive status for the detection of dementia in primary care. Ann Fam Med. 2022;20(2):130-136. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2768

DISCUSSION TIPS

Dementia diagnosis in primary care is challenging, time consuming, and consequential. Alternative methods of screening would be appreciated by practicing clinicians. The authors explored the use of the telephone interview for cognitive status (TICS) for dementia screening. With the transition to more telehealth visits in primary care because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even easier to see how telephone-based screening could be helpful.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What question is asked by this study and why does it matter?

• What are the main study findings?

• What is a gold standard diagnosis?

• What are sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value? How do they relate to the question asked in this paper?

• Does the current COVID-19 pandemic impact your opinion on the importance of this study?

• How strong is the study design for answering the question?

• What is imputation and why did the authors use imputation in this paper?

• To what degree can the findings be accounted for by:

  1. How patients were selected for inclusion into the study

  2. The ability for participants to use external clues to answer questions

  3. How dementia was diagnosed

• How comparable is the study sample to similar patients in your practice or region? What is your judgment about the transportability of the findings?

• What contextual factors are important for interpreting the findings?

• How might this study change your practice? What would the implementation of TICS look like in your practice?

• What are the next steps in interpreting or applying the findings?

• What researchable questions remain?