Online CME-certified Survey Identifies Sources for Clinical Practice Gaps Among Neurologists and PCPs Regarding the Early Recognition of Alzheimer’s Disease
Piyali Chatterjee1, Lisette Arnaud-Hevi1, Thomas Finnegan1, Sharon Cohen2
1Medscape Education, 2Toronto Memory Program
Objective:
The goal of this study was to gain insight into the gaps in confidence, knowledge, and competence regarding the recognition of early symptomatic AD among both PCPs and neurologists.
Background:
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most commonly diagnosed form of dementia in the US. It is now recognized that the pathogenesis of AD starts years before the manifestation of clinical symptoms. As a result, there is a desire to recognize patients with AD as early as possible in order to improve outcomes.
Design/Methods:
A CME-certified clinical practice assessment consisting of 25 multiple-choice questions on knowledge, competence, and confidence was made available to a global audience of neurologists and PCPs. Learners were queried on the following topics: pathophysiology of early AD and clinical relevant tools for the identification of early AD. Data were collected from February 16, 2023 through May 2, 2022.
Results:
A total of 382 neurologists and 387 PCPs completed the survey. Approximately a third of neurologists and half of PCPs reported low confidence in relating to the recognition of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). When presented with a case-based question on diagnosis of MCI, 59% of neurologists and 48% of PCPs selected the correct answer.
64% of neurologists and
68% of PCPs correctly answered questions on the diagnosis of AD. Questions about AD-related biomarkers were correctly answered by 57% of neurologists and 49% of PCPs. Both physician groups performed the worst on questions relating to components of cognitive assessment scale and the pathophysiology of AD. Geographic location of the learners did not substantially impact the results.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrated that a high proportion of neurologists and PCPs can benefit from additional education on concepts related to the recognition of MCI and mild dementia due to AD. Neurologists and PCPs are currently unprepared to accurately identify early AD in clinical practice.