NICE issue amended Alzheimer’s advice
September 11, 2007 on 9:12 am | In Prescribing Extra - Other |
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The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued revised guidance for Alzheimer’s disease following the outcome of the recent judicial review.
According the NICE website, the amendments specifically address using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) for patients when it is not clinically appropriate due to the patient’s learning or other disabilities or where it is not possible to apply the MMSE in a language in which the patient is sufficiently fluent.
In such circumstances NICE suggests that healthcare professionals should not rely on the MMSE test - or not rely on it alone - to assess whether someone has moderate Alzheimer’s disease. They further recommend that different methods should be used to judge disease severity when deciding about starting or stopping treatment.
Action: Clinicians should be aware of this amendment and the impact it may have upon their clinical practice.
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