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Cognitive neurology
Research paper
The Test Your Memory for Mild Cognitive Impairment (TYM-MCI)
  1. Jeremy M Brown1,2,
  2. Claire J Lansdall3,
  3. Julie Wiggins3,
  4. Kate E Dawson3,
  5. Kristina Hunter1,
  6. James B Rowe1,3,
  7. Richard A Parker4
  1. 1 Department of Neurology, Cambridge University Hospitals, Hills Road, Cambridge, UK
  2. 2 Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK
  3. 3 Cambridge University Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cambridge, UK
  4. 4 Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jeremy M Brown, Department of Neurology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Trust, King’s Lynn, UK; jmb75{at}medschl.cam.ac.uk

Abstract

Background To validate a short cognitive test: the Test Your Memory for Mild Cognitive Impairment (TYM-MCI) in the diagnosis of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease (aMCI/AD).

Methods Two hundred and two patients with mild memory problems were recruited. All had ‘passed’ the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Patients completed the TYM-MCI, the Test Your Memory test (TYM), MMSE and revised Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R), had a neurological examination, clinical diagnostics and multidisciplinary team review.

Results As a single test, the TYM-MCI performed as well as the ACE-R in the distinction of patients with aMCI/AD from patients with subjective memory impairment with a sensitivity of 0.79 and specificity of 0.91. Used in combination with the ACE-R, it provided additional value and identified almost all cases of aMCI/AD. The TYM-MCI correctly classified most patients who had equivocal ACE-R scores. Integrated discriminant improvement analysis showed that the TYM-MCI added value to the conventional memory assessment. Patients initially diagnosed as unknown or with subjective memory impairment who were later rediagnosed with aMCI/AD scored poorly on their original TYM-MCI.

Conclusion The TYM-MCI is a powerful short cognitive test that examines verbal and visual recall and is a valuable addition to the assessment of patients with aMCI/AD. It is simple and cheap to administer and requires minimal staff time and training.

  • TYM-MCI
  • TYM
  • amnestic mild cognitive impairment
  • cognition

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2016-315327

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    Footnotes

    • JBR and RAP contributed equally.

    • Contributors JMB is the guarantor of this study. He designed the study and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. JW, KED and KH administered the TYM-MCI to patients and scored the results. CJL and RAP performed the statistical analysis and helped to write the text. JBR contributed to the planning of the study and in writing the text.

    • Funding JBR was supported by the Wellcome Trust (103838).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval Cambridgeshire 2.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.