DemTect is the abbreviation for “Dementia Detection”. This is a simple screening procedure for dementia. The DemTect examines cognitive abilities such as memory, verbal fluency and attention. It only takes about ten minutes. Find out everything important here about the process and evaluation of the DemTect!
DemTect: Test Tasks
The DemTect (Dementia Detection) helps to determine a patient’s mental disabilities. In addition, it can be used to describe the course of a mental breakdown. It is used like other tests (MMST, watch test, etc.) in dementia diagnostics.
The DemTect consists of five parts that are used to test different cognitive abilities.
DemTect subtest: word list
In the first subtest the learning increase of the episodic memory is checked: The patient is read a word list with ten terms (plate, dog, lamp, etc.). The patient should repeat all the words he could remember – their order does not matter. The whole thing is repeated once (with the same word list).
The number of correctly repeated words in both passes is added (maximum 20 points).
DemTect subtest: number conversion
The second subtest is a number conversion task: The patient should first convert a three and a four digit number (for example, 209 and 4054) into the corresponding number words (“two hundred nine” and “four thousand fifty four”).
Then he should convert two number words (such as “six hundred and eighty-one”) into the corresponding numbers.
In this subtest you can achieve a maximum of four points.
DemTect Subtest: Supermarket task
In the third subtest, the patient should name as many things as possible, which can be bought in a supermarket. This subtest examines the semantic verbal fluid. The examiner counts the mentioned terms and notes them as a score (maximum 30).
DemTect subtest: Number sequence backwards
In the fourth task, two-, three-, four-, five- and six-digit series of numbers are read, which the patient should repeat afterwards. Counted is the longest true backwards repeated sequence of numbers (maximum of six points). With this task, the working memory is checked.
DemTect subtest: repetition of the word list
Without being informed to the patient at the beginning, the word list of the first task is repeated in the last DemTect task. It examines how many of the terms the patient could remember after having to perform other tasks in between. In this subtest, the implicit memory performance is under scrutiny. The maximum achievable score is ten.
DemTect: evaluation
At the end, all subtotals from the five subtests receive a corresponding score according to a conversion table. These five scores are added to the total score (maximum: 18). There is an indication of the patient’s cognitive performance:
- 13 – 18 points: age-appropriate cognitive performance
- 9 – 12 points: slight cognitive impairment
- 8 points or less: Dementia suspected
If a dementia suspicion arises, further investigations are carried out.
Attention: The DemTect is not suitable in patients under 40 years to clarify a suspected dementia.
DemTect: Combination with MMST
The DemTect can also be combined with the MMST (Mini Mental Status Test), another important test in dementia diagnostics. This combination is very useful because of the DemTect Easier to detect mild cognitive impairments than the MMST.