Suspecting dementia: canaries, chameleons and zebras

As the number of people with dementia worldwide approaches 50 million, the need for early and accurate diagnosis is more urgent than ever. However, the biggest challenge is often suspecting dementia in the first place and deciding why this is not ‘just’ Alzheimer’s disease. Associate Editor of Practical Neurology, Dr Tom Hughes, Department of Neurology, Cardiff, interviews Dr Jeremy Johnson and Dr Jason Warren, both from the Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, about their recent paper, in which they outline a practical, symptom-led, bedside approach to suspecting dementia and its likely diagnosis, inspired by clinical experience and based on recognition of characteristic syndromic patterns. You can read the paper on the Practical Neurology website (https://pn.bmj.com/content/21/4/300) and the August print issue of the journal. The paper is also discussed by Practical Neurology editors, Dr Phil Smith and Dr Geraint Fuller, in their latest podcast: https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/editors-highlights-of-the-august-2021-issue?in=bmjpodcasts/sets/pn-podcast Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast via all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify, to get the latest podcast every month.

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