TUCSON: Even though patients with cognitive decline also commonly have gait, balance and manual dexterity problems, routine screening of motor symptoms by dementia experts is rare, new survey results show.
To address this lack of attention to motor dysfunction, researchers have developed a quick and easy screening test for motor symptoms.
“You see only what you look for,” said Thomas H. Bak, MD, reader in Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. “If one doesn’t look for motor symptoms in dementia, one is likely to miss them.”
The survey results and screening test were presented at the first Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN).
Although cognitive decline is the defining feature of dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia, most types of dementia can also be associated with motor symptoms, said Dr Bak…