Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Calum HamiltonORCiD, Professor Alan ThomasORCiD, Dr Paul DonaghyORCiD, Christian Mueller
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Objectives We aimed to examine regional differences in the relationship between core clinical features assessed using the Improving the DIAgnosis and Management Of Neurodegenerative Dementias of Lewy body type in the NHS (DIAMOND-Lewy) dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) Assessment Toolkit and memory service diagnoses of Lewy body dementia (LBD).Design Secondary analysis of a multicentre observational study.Setting Memory clinics in three sites across England (North East, London and South East) from July 2019 to March 2023.Participants 935 individuals with a new memory service diagnosis of dementia enrolled in the DETERMinants of quality of life, care and costs, and consequences of INequalities in people with Dementia and their carers (DETERMIND) programme.Outcome measures Core clinical features of DLB were assessed using the DLB Assessment Toolkit. The relationship between core clinical features and memory service diagnosis of LBD was examined using Bayesian probit models.Results There were higher rates of LBD diagnosis from memory services in the cohort in North East England compared with the London and South East centres (11% vs 4%; risk ratio (RR)=1.72 (1.35–2.08)) and evidence of a regional moderating effect on the relationship between clinical features and LBD diagnosis (RR=1.73 (1.26–2.40)).All core clinical features of DLB were associated with LBD diagnosis in North East England, whereas visual hallucinations were the most influential diagnostic feature in London and the South East (RR=3.18 (2.29–4.02)).Conclusions Regional differences in LBD diagnosis in UK memory services appear to reflect different rates of recognition of specific LBD clinical features. Routinely using a standardised DLB Assessment Toolkit and improving awareness of non-hallucination features in LBD could help to address this disparity.
Author(s): Hamilton CA, Thomas AJ, Donaghy PC, Hicks B, Mueller C, Banerjee C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMJ Open
Year: 2026
Volume: 16
Issue: 7
Online publication date: 22/07/2026
Acceptance date: 09/07/2026
Date deposited: 22/07/2026
ISSN (print): 2044-6055
ISSN (electronic): 2044-6055
Publisher: BMJ Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121991
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-121991
Data Access Statement: Data are available upon reasonable request. Direct access will be granted to authorised representatives from the sponsor and host institution or via request to the study CI Professor SB ( sube.banerjee@nottingham.ac.uk). Following the end of the study in January 2027, anonymised data will be uploaded to the UK Data Archive online repository. Access to data will be limited to authorised researchers who agree to the End User License http://dataarchive.ac.uk/conditions).
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
