Authors' reply

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2834

Published 15 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2834
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b2834

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TYM and Alzheimer’s disease

Authors’ reply

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The test your memory (TYM) test is intended to be self administeredby the patient— allowing testing of 10 cognitive skillsin minimal operator time—but it needs to be overseen andinterpreted by a health professional.¹ The test is thereforeself administered but not for self diagnosis. It is hard tochoose an alternative title which clarifies this without beingtoo long. As a result of the publicity concerning self testingwe have delayed the launch of the website tymtest.com untilwe can ensure easy access for professionals while discouragingself testing.

The TYM test has been validated in a single study in a singlepopulation presenting with cognitive problems, and shows greatpromise as a screening tool in this setting. Problems wouldoccur with indiscriminate screening of asymptomatic patients,with many false positives. We agree that such testing is notappropriate. A low TYM score suggests the need to . . . [Full text of this article]

Jeremy Brown, consultant neurologist¹, George Pengas, clinical research fellow¹, Kate Dawson, research nurse¹, Lucy A Brown, honorary research assistant¹, Philip Clatworthy, clinical research fellow¹

¹ Department of Neurology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ

jmb75@medschl.cam.ac.uk

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Self administered cognitive screening test (TYM) for detection of Alzheimer’s disease: cross sectional study: Jeremy Brown, George Pengas, Kate Dawson, Lucy A Brown, and Philip Clatworthy
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