A new dementia screening test for people with Learning Disabilities
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to validate a brief dementia screening test for people with Learning Disabilities (LD)
IRAS ID
160329
Contact name
Latha Velayudhan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Dementia is an acquired cognitive impairment that is progressive and leads to significant impairment of daily activities (Perry, 2014). Onset of dementia usually occurs among older adults, over the age of 65. However, individuals with learning disability (LD) experience earlier onset of ageing characteristics than in the general population (Lin et al, 2011), and therefore often develop dementia earlier than in the general population. Research has shown that diagnosis of dementia is substantially higher in LD populations than in the general population, and that virtually all adults with Down syndrome over 35-40 years have neuropathological changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease (Deb & McHugh, 2010).
There are inherent difficulties in assessing and diagnosing dementia in LD populations (Holland, 2014) and clinicians often rely on an informant’s report of symptoms (Jamieson-Craig et al, 2010). Although it is recognized that assessments for dementia in the general population are not appropriate for people with LD such assessment methods are often used. These assessments often require reading and writing abilities and take a long time to administer.
The most well-known dementia screening tool used in LD populations is the Dementia Questionnaire for People with Learning Disabilities (DLD). The DLD is a lengthy 50-item questionnaire completed by carers. Although this covers a range of cognitive domains that could be affected by dementia onset, it is a long questionnaire which needs to be completed by the carer, who may not have worked with the individual long enough to assess an accurate baseline in order to judge changes in functioning, which is essential for reliable identification of dementia.
This study aims to validate a test for dementia in LD which is computerised and shorter than established measures, is not dependent upon reading or writing abilities, is appropriate for use in an LD population and does not require trained medical or psychological staff.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0033
Date of REC Opinion
23 Mar 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion