NINCDS-ADRDA Alzheimer's Criteria


The NINCDS-ADRDA Alzheimer's Criteria were proposed in 1984 by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association and are among the most used in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. These criteria require that the presence of cognitive impairment and a suspected dementia syndrome be confirmed by neuropsychological testing for a clinical diagnosis of possible or probable AD; while they need histopathologic confirmation for the definitive diagnosis. They specify as well eight cognitive domains that may be impaired in AD. These criteria have shown good reliability and validity.

Criteria

The NINCDS-ADRDA Alzheimer's Criteria specify eight cognitive domains that may be impaired in AD: memory, language, perceptual skills, attention, constructive abilities, orientation, problem solving and functional abilities.

Other criteria

Similar to the NINCDS-ADRDA Alzheimer's Criteria are the DSM-IV-TR criteria published by the American Psychiatric Association. At the same time the advances in functional neuroimaging techniques such as PET or SPECT that have already proven their utility to differentiate Alzheimer's disease from other possible causes, have led to proposals of revision of the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria that take into account these techniques.