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Development of a short neuropsychological battery to screen early dementia in the elderly
Author(s) -
Funabiki Yasuko,
Takechi Hajime,
Akamatsu Tomoko,
Kita Toru
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1046/j.1444-1586.2002.00049.x
Subject(s) - dementia , intraclass correlation , medicine , verbal fluency test , neuropsychological test , neuropsychology , mini–mental state examination , audiology , test (biology) , reliability (semiconductor) , cognition , psychometrics , psychiatry , clinical psychology , cognitive impairment , quantum mechanics , paleontology , power (physics) , physics , disease , biology
Background: The purpose of the present study was to develop a short screening neuropsychological battery for patients with very mild and mild dementia. Methods: The participants involved in the present study consisted of 162 persons who were 65 years and older. Fifty‐four of the patients had very mild or mild dementia and had a mini‐mental state examination (MMSE) score of 19 or above. Normal control samples were community‐dwelling volunteers, or persons recruited from outpatients who did not suffer from any cognitive problems. Mini‐mental state examination, the category cued memory test (CCMT) – a modified brief memory test in which category cues were given for both acquisition and retrieval – verbal fluency test (VFT) and clock drawing test (CDT) were carried out. Using logistic regression models, the best battery was selected. The validity and reliability of the battery were also assessed. Results: The combination of CCMT, VFT and CDT was the best screening battery and could be accomplished in about 10 min. The battery had a high degree of sensitivity (94.4%), specificity (99.1%), positive and negative predictive values. Test‐retest, interrater and alternate forms reliabilities were substantial using the intraclass correlation coefficient, and all of the P ‐values analyzed by the Pearson correlation coefficient were below 0.005. Conclusions: This short battery has enough validity, reliability and efficiency to detect early dementia especially in an elderly primary care setting. The CCMT is also a useful memory test even if used alone.