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Whether routine screening for dementia or cognitive impairment in primary care practices improves outcomes is unclear. In this trial, researchers randomized 4000 primary care patients (age, ≥65; mean age, 74) without dementia or cognitive impairment to receive screening or no screening. The screening instrument was the Memory Impairment Screen (some patients also were screened with the mini-COG). The 8% of patients who screened positive were referred for further diagnostic assessment.
The objective of the study was to determine whether screening yielded any obvious benefits (e.g., improved quality of life) or harms (e.g., increased anxiety or depression). At 1 year, standardized assessment tools showed no differences for any of these outcome…