Alzheimer's Test

Experts say that there are about 4 million people in the United States that exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. However, out of this 4 million, only about a third is aware that they even have this illness. The reason is that the early signs of Alzheimer's are often difficult to identify, much less distinguish from the slight memory lapses that people experience as they go through the normal aging process.

Doctors are saying that early diagnosis could be the key to preventing the symptoms of the disease from becoming worse. Much of the Alzheimer's medication available today are designed to treat the early symptoms of the illness so for patients to benefit from this treatment, they need some form of Alzheimer's test that would enable them to identify the symptoms of the disease at an earlier time.

The good news is that the market has exactly this kind of Alzheimer's test that can help patients identify Alzheimer's symptoms early.  A professor of psychology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Paul Solomon, has developed a new tool for testing people for the early signs of Alzhiemer's disease as well as other forms of dementia.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia that usually affects people over the age of 65 years. It is a disorder of the brain's cognitive functions, resulting in degeneration of memory, thinking skills, reasoning abilities, and the ability to perform daily activities. The disease is progressive, which means that the symptoms become worse over time. Those who get diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease often have eight to ten years more to live, depending on how fast the disease progresses or how early the symptoms were detected.

The Alzheimer's test that Professor Solomon developed is called the 7 Minute Screen. It is actually comprised of four Alzheimer's tests that can be administered in less than 10 minutes, or exactly seven minutes and 43 seconds on the average, by anyone who has had an hour of basic training.

The 7-Minute Alzheimer's test was patterned after the designs of four older psychological test models but with improvements added to make it more sensitive to detecting dementia. Specifically, the Alzheimer's test zeroes in on tasks that a person with Alzheimer's would find difficult to do.

We are in an age where managed care cannot afford a single second to lose. So the short time it would take for this Alzheimer's test to deliver results is a major selling point.

Solomon says that "doctors don't have seven seconds, much less seven minutes."

However, it should be taken into account that an Alzheimer's test this quick is only capable of identifying people with impairments in memory, reasoning, and other mental tasks – all of which could be signs of other dysfunctions or disorders not only Alzheimer's. For a more thorough and accurate diagnosis, a more complicated, time-consuming Alzheimer's test method is required and one that no 7-minute package can provide.