Study Aim

What is the concordance between subjective and objective assessments of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) severity?

What was learned from the study?

Clinical notes with subjective (clinician’s judgement) and objective (cognitive test) assessments of AD severity were extracted from the Veteran’s Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure database using text integration utilities (2008–2021). Among 7514 notes, concordance between subjective and objective assessments was 53%. In the subjectively assessed mild AD cohort, objective assessments were more severe in 40% of notes.

In real-world settings, clinicians may be considering extra-cognitive factors when determining AD severity; there is a critical need for improved understanding of clinical assessments/decision-making in AD.