Dementia and Primary-Care Health Measures:Hearing, Gait, and Markers of Inflammation

Dementia is a syndrome associated with declining cognitive function that has a variety of types and causes, and is encountered frequently in general medical practice. Researchers are actively exploring possible risk factors for dementia. The St. Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) exam is a dementia-screening exam used in primary care visits to detect cognitive impairment that may be a sign of dementia. This study compared scores on the SLUMS exam to other measures recorded in a typical primary care visit in 86 patients of age 65 and older to look for correlations between indicators of health, such as physical examination measures and complete blood count panels, and cognitive impairment, as measured by score on the SLUMS exam. Abnormal gait was associated with a lower score on the SLUMS exam compared to normal (p=.006), failure of the hearing test in both ears was associated with a lower score on the SLUMS exam compared to patients passing the hearing test in one or both ears (p=.046), red blood cell count was positively correlated with SLUMS exam score (p=.020), white blood cell count was negatively correlated with SLUMS exam score (p=.003), and serum albumin levels were negatively correlated with SLUMS exam score (p=.002). These data support the view that both physical impairments and markers of an inflammatory response are related to dementia