The copy of pentagons in the diagnosis of prodromal dementia with Lewy body

Introduction and objective: Visuospatial deficits are present in the early stages of Lewy Body Dementia according to the recent update of the diagnostic criteria. Therefore, the objective of the work was to determine the usefulness of the copy of pentagons as a screening tool. Materials and methods: Subjects were stratified into four groups: Patients with prodromal Lewy body dementia (PLBD), Minor neurocognitive disorder (Minor NCD), Major neurocognitive disorder (Major NCD) and control cases. All were evaluated with pentagon test within an extensive neuropsychological evaluation, including the ALBA Screening Instrument (ASI). Results: The sample consisted of 359 subjects: 53 cases with PLBD, 140 with Minor NCD, 75 with Major NCD, and 91 control cases. The sensitivity obtained in the test is 45.3% and the specificity of 80.7% for the detection of PLBD when considering all groups. The percentage of patients with PLBD who performed the test correctly was significantly lower than that found in the control group and the group of patients with Minor NCD. However, no significant differences were found between patients with PLBD and Major NCD. Conclusion: The copy of pentagons presents a low sensitivity and high specificity for which it would not be possible to consider it as a useful tool for the detection of patients with PLBD. However, it would be a simple tool to differentiate PLBD from other disorders suggesting that future studies for early screening should focus on visuospatial abilities.