What is the accuracy of a "mental test" of remembering 3 words and drawing a clock?

On a sort of "cogito ergo sum" theme, perhaps one way of being reasonably confident that you're not suffering from AD is having such an acute awareness of what to look out for. If you were in the early stages, I suspect you might have lost interest in monitoring yourself so closely, for a start.

I'm all for responsible self-help, but is this beginning to cause you needless - even possibly counterproductive - anxiety?

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to appoint a health proxy and leave it in their hands and God's.

To me, the “mini mental duet” is not so much about passing per se but about having it in your health chart to see changes over time and what the progression is like as it can help give an indication as to which type of dementia.

For my mom, her first happened unplanned.... she had torn a muscle cleaning windows; her regular internist - which did NOT do minis ever - sent her to see othopedic surgeon & his practice was within UTHealth Science Center system; ortho MD sent mom to be be evaluated by gerontology practice - also UTHSC- before he’d schedule surgery and this was more about her to be ok to be cognitive to do rehab, cause if she wasn’t competent & cognitive enough for 2-3 mos of post surgery rehab he wouldn’t do it. My mom was in really good health with no chronic diseases. Gerontology did full on work up and mom ended up getting into a study on nonagenarians. Mini mental every 4 mos, annually full ACE (Addenbrooke) & Battery 100. Everything pointed to her having Lewy Body Dementia. And on retrospect, she was pretty classic Lewy. The medications for Lewy are different than for Alzheimer’s, so knowing she was Lewy was important. She was on Exelon as aricept doesn’t work for Lewy. Also the most common prescribed psych meds are totally adverse for Lewy.

The testing tech told me that the more “Dali” like for the clock and the more extreme the clock melt, the gerontologist could use to actually determine where a patient was in their Alz phase over time by looking at past drawings. The ones with Lewy could clock draw pretty well till death.

Another thing about any of the Dementia “testing”, if your first language was not English or you grew up in a bilingual household, your test results could be somewhat inaccurate as they skew English only. My mom was fluently bilingual (an ESOL program volunteer in her 70’s) but as she aged reverted more to her first language or code switched in conversations.

If your really concerned about your dementia probability, I’d suggest you get an Addenbrooke / ACE done as it’s a pretty solid test & score is pretty spot on in my experience.

You have some good answers here, especially the first one. Your question is so clear and cogent there is no sign whatsoever that you are moving toward dementia. With reference to the mental test, it is an indication of cognitive ability. However, even people who make mistakes with remembering or drawing the clock do not go on to develop dementia. In England, what is known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) only leads to dementia 50% of the time. Furthermore, as a friend said to me: "If you forget the location of your car keys, that is not a sign of the slide into dementia. Rather, dementia begins when you don't know what car keys are used for!"
It is important to know that just because several members of your family have developed dementia late in their lives, that does not mean you are more likely to get it, even with the APOE4 gene. It is only Early Onset Dementia (roughly before the age of 50) that there is a 50% chance of others in the family developing dementia, as explained in the film "Still Alice." Cheer up! You're still doing well.

Yes I got the same thing this year. I did it but I think I will refuse next time. Just another government beaureucrat rule intruding on our lives.

In my wife's case, the test by a neurologist, after having failed the same test with our pcp, led to the ct scam that confirmed her FTD and PPA. Which led to me hiding her car keys and the neurologist prescribing a med that should have slowed the disease. Sadly when diagnosed it was too late for the med to help. The neurologist decide to terminate the clock test after she started writing random number that exceeded military times and later hours were coming before earlier hours.
She is ESL person and now she communicates very little in english.

It is important as a starting point. If you can't do the three words and the clock it is indeed, time for my examination. :(

You said they don't tell you how you are doing. Come right out and ask them. If they him and haw around, ask them why won't they tell you. Get assertive if you need to.

Personally, you seem ok to me. My husband who has Alzheimer's drew the clock face 2 years ago fine. This year all the numbers were on the right side of the clock.

I think they are doing this to establish a base line so when you go in next year and you draw the same clock, remember the 3 words given they know there has been no change. If however you have difficulty with either they might be more inclined to recommend further testing.

When mom did she had 9 numbers on 1 side & 3 on other but most looked like short hand to point I was asked if she knew that which I knew she didn't - mom was an artist so it was very telling that she had lost spacial acuity where she couldn't draw anything like a circle & time was off too - she failed the test but there were 20 items in all & failed most of them

I believe this is a test to establish baseline as one is Medicare eligible.

When you go on Medicare, you have the opportunity, within the first 12 months, to have a
Welcome to Medicare physical. Although many do not know about this or take advantage of it, it is important and completely covered by Medicare.

Yes, the clock is important.

Yes this clock drawing is important if you leave it in its environment i.e. the MMSE or Mini-Mental State Exam , what you are writing about is de "Mini-Cog test" were you where asked to retain 3 words and draw clock showing all 12 numbers and place the needles on the exact time mentioned by the doctor. This is a brief test that helps your doctor to decide if you should undergo a further examination. So if your physician did not call you back for tether examination I think that you are still OK in life.

Hugs, Arleeda.

We can't help beginning to feel very vulnerable and anxious, hm? - especially during phases when there just seems to be a sea of troubles facing us and our loved ones.

You've taken the right steps, and your daughter is a responsible, sensible and eminently qualified person. I'm sorry she's going through this with her father.

The rest of it really is just life, you know. I don't think there is an answer.

Please feel good that you passed those tests. If you don't pass, then you need further evaluation by a physician. Early treatment of dementia is the most effective treatment, so it is good that they are doing the screening. The test of remembering 3 things obviously tests memory but also attention and motivation. The clock test is a very easy test to administer and score and is predictive of a problem that needs to be followed up with further testing. It's considered a problem if any of the following occur: wrong time, no hands, missing numbers, repeated numbers, numbers in the wrong order and refusal to do the task. The clock test specifically test executive function. This would be planning, organizing, prioritizing, predicting the result of an action, impulse control, emotional control. Loss of executive function is often the first thing family members notice about a loved one when they are developing dementia. I mentioned to my dad's doctor that I thought he was developing dementia. I was shocked when I saw the clock that he drew. You might want to google "clock test images" to see how this can go. As a scientist, I can tell you that is is normal for the researchers to not tell you the result of the data they collect on you. Thank you for participating in this research. The current research says that people who engage in a variety of activities, especially new activities, that are mentally challenging may delay the development of cognitive decline. (By the way, the three words my dad was tested on 9 years ago, I can't seem to forget them!)