The CDR is a clinically based, semistructured interview, which rates impairment level in 6 cognitive domains: memory, orientation, judgment/problem solving, community affairs, home and hobbies, and personal care.
Dementia
The Global Deterioration Scale for Primary Degenerative Dementia
The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) provides caregivers an overview of the stages of cognitive function for those suffering from a primary degenerative dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. It is broken down into 7 different stages. Stages 1-3 are the pre-dementia stages. Stages 4-7 are the dementia stages. Biginning in stage 5, an individual can no longer survive without assistance. Within the GDS, each stage is numbered (1-7), given a short title (i.e., Forgetfulness, Early Confusional, etc. followed by a brief listing of the characteristics for that stage. Caregivers can get a rough idea of where an individual is at in the disease process by observing that individual’s behavioral characteristics and comparing them to the GDS. For more specific assessments, use Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS) and the Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) measures.
Diagnostic Criteria for Behavioural Variant Frontotemporal Dementia
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disorder mainly affecting the frontal and/or temporal lobes, leading to dementia with prominent behavioural and/or language disturbances. Symptom onset is most often between 45 and 65 years.
Revised Criteria for Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association (NIA-AA) charged a workgroup with the task of developing criteria for the symptomatic predementia phase of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), referred to in this article as mild cognitive impairment due to AD.
Revised Criteria for the Clinical Diagnosis of Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB)
The Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) Consortium has refined its recommendations about the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of DLB, updating the previous report, which has been in widespread use for the last decade. The revised DLB consensus criteria now distinguish clearly between clinical features and diagnostic biomarkers, and give guidance about optimal methods to establish and interpret these.
Hachinski Ischemic Scale (HIS)
The Hachinski ischemic score (HIS) is known to be a simple clinical tool, currently used for differentiating major types of dementia, such as primary degenerative, vascular or multi-infarct, and mixed type.
Diagnostic Criteria for Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB)
Synucleinopathies, with and without dementia, encompass a wide range of diseases including Parkinson’s disease, multiple system atrophy, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). DLB is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting in slowly progressive and unrelenting dementia until death.