Neurocognitive disorders in DSM 5 project - personal comments

Abstract

The actual criteria for diagnosis of dementia have many shortages, due to the fact that both DSM 4 and ICD 10 criteria are essentially based on the typical evolution of Alzheimer's disease, which is the most frequent, but not the only one cause of dementia in the general population. In the new project of DSM-5, proposed for public debate by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), new criteria for neurocognitive disorders are defined which seem more suitable to cover in a much more appropriate way all the entities potentially leading to dementia. In our view, these new criteria are also in line with the updated knowledge about these diseases as they are reflected in the recent publications and recommendations of international experts and medical associations.