Identifying cognitive deficits in the elderly in general practice

In view of the progressive ageing of the Tunisian population, dementia will be a major health, social and economic issue facing our country in the years ahead. The general practitioner is the patient's first medical recourse and plays a fundamental role in initiating the diagnostic process for dementia. We conducted a study to assess the knowledge and practices of general practitioners in identifying cognitive disorders in the elderly, and to determine the obstacles to early diagnosis of dementia. Our study shows that there is a lack of early detection of cognitive disorders in the elderly. When faced with a memory complaint, 20% of doctors said they identified cognitive disorders, and 36.4% said they referred the patient to a specialist straight away. More than half of doctors (54.4%) had never carried out a cognitive assessment. Developing simpler cognitive tests, and updating and improving training for 1st-line doctors would improve early diagnosis of these pathologies.