According to First Watch, "A 10-task test ("Test Your Memory," or
TYM ) that takes about 5 minutes to perform can detect over 90% of Alzheimer cases,
BMJ reports."
This test is likely to become popular among doctors and laypersons given its ease of administration and the frequency with which the important question "Do I have Alzheimer's" arises.
As this self-assessment test becomes popular, I wanted to warn against over-worry. If you look deeper into the actual study done with this test, you will find it has a very high amount of what is called 'false positives'. A false positive is when a test says you have something when you really don't. In this case, when crunching the numbers, you will find that for every actual Alzheimer's diagnosis found on this test, there are 11 false positives.
The dissemination of the test would be unfortunate, because the potential for misunderstanding of its results is high (because of the false positives), and will cause many people to incorrectly self-assess or be told that they have a cruel disorder for which there is little hope. Remember, as with any screening test, results are not very accurate. If you have any concern of Alzheimer's, please be sure to have full testing done by professionals.
Dr. James Prego
Naturopathic Doctor
Long Island Naturopathic
560 Main St, Suite 4
Islip NY 11751
631-650-0268
www.doctorprego.com
This test is likely to become popular among doctors and laypersons given its ease of administration and the frequency with which the important question "Do I have Alzheimer's" arises.
As this self-assessment test becomes popular, I wanted to warn against over-worry. If you look deeper into the actual study done with this test, you will find it has a very high amount of what is called 'false positives'. A false positive is when a test says you have something when you really don't. In this case, when crunching the numbers, you will find that for every actual Alzheimer's diagnosis found on this test, there are 11 false positives.
The dissemination of the test would be unfortunate, because the potential for misunderstanding of its results is high (because of the false positives), and will cause many people to incorrectly self-assess or be told that they have a cruel disorder for which there is little hope. Remember, as with any screening test, results are not very accurate. If you have any concern of Alzheimer's, please be sure to have full testing done by professionals.