Do it yourself.Consumers can now buy Alzheimer's test A NEW AT-HOME SCREENING TEST FOR Alzheimer's promises a simple tool that can be administered and scored by almost anyone, but its reliability is still in question. The In-Home Alzheimer's Screening Test is a six-part series of word and picture games designed as a preliminary test of different mental skills and recall. The test administrator tallies up points earned for each answer. For each range of scores there are suggestions such as Retest re·test tr.v. re·test·ed, re·test·ing, re·tests To test again. n. A second or repeated test. at a later date" or "Seek medical help immediately." Bill Thies, PhD, vice president of medical and scientific affairs for the Alzheimer's Association The Alzheimer's Association, incorportated on April 10, 1980 as the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, Inc., is a non-profit American voluntary health organization which focuses on care, support and research for Alzheimer's disease. , points out the test has no scientific data to support it yet. "As far as I can tell it's completely unproven unproven Dubious, nonscientific, not proven, quack, questionable, unscientific adjective Relating to that which has not been validated by reproducible experiments or other scientific methods for determining effect or efficacy , so I think that's the bottom line." And scores could be skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data by factors such as a person's educational level or ethnic background. Thies recommends that providers suggest a medical workup work·up n. Abbr. w/u A thorough medical examination for diagnostic purposes. to any family members or potential residents who are concerned about Alzheimer's based on the test. |
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