ABSTRACT
Objectives: To examine the diagnostic utility of the ‘attended alone’ (AA) and ‘attended with’ (AW) signs for the diagnosis of major and minor neurocognitive disorder.
Methods: Consecutive unselected new outpatient referrals (N = 1209) to a dedicated cognitive disorders clinic over a 5-year period (2015–2019 inclusive) were observed for the AA and AW signs. Criterion diagnoses were by usual clinic assessment using standard (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria.
Results: AW proved to be very sensitive for the identification of major and minor neurocognitive disorder but with generally low positive predictive values. In the subgroup of patients attending with more than one informant, the AW2+ sign, positive predictive value was higher and likewise with increasing patient age where the prevalence of AW was higher. Diagnostic utility of AW and AA was independent of patient gender.
Conclusion: AW and AA are easily observed and categorized signs. AW has a high sensitivity for cognitive impairment while AA has a high positive predictive value for its absence.
Declaration of Interest
The author reports no conflicts of interest.
Data Sharing
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, AJL, upon reasonable request.
Reviewers disclosure
Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.