Identifying dementia in Down syndrome with the Severe Impairment Battery, Brief Praxis Test and Dementia Scale for People with Learning Disabilities.

The dementia groups were partly decided using the same SIB, BPT, and DLD data being tested, which can make the association between tests and diagnosis look stronger than it is. The authors reported 96% agreement between the neurologist's independent impression and the final consensus diagnosis, which reduces but does not remove concern about circularity. Diagnosis was not confirmed by autopsy or neuropathology, so the dementia groups may be imperfect. The sample included relatively few participants with severe intellectual disability and relatively few with possible or probable dementia, so the results are limited for those groups. Scores were associated with age and intellectual disability level, so a low or high score may reflect baseline disability or age rather than new dementia. Sensitivity was modest, so these measures may miss some adults with dementia.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The article is supported by NIH extramural research.

Do not conclude that this brief battery can reliably detect the earliest signs of dementia in Down syndrome. The direct SIB and BPT scores did not separate no dementia from possible dementia, and the dementia groups were partly decided using the same tests being evaluated.