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Screening for Dementia in the Outpatient Setting: The Time and Change Test
Author(s) -
Froehlich Tanya E.,
Robison Julie T.,
Inouye Sharon K.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1998.tb01534.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dementia , outpatient clinic , population , prospective cohort study , gerontology , cohort , disease , environmental health
OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate the Time and Change (T&C) test, a simple, standardized method for detecting dementia in a diverse older outpatient population with varying levels of education. DESIGN: A prospective cohort validation study. SETTING: Two outpatient clinics at an urban teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: The concurrent validation sample consisted of 100 consecutive outpatients 70 years of age or older who were 58% non‐white and had a 16% dementia prevalence rate and educational levels ranging from 0 to 17+ years. Reliability was tested in a sample of 42 consecutive outpatients 75 years of age or older with a 36% dementia prevalence rate. MEASUREMENTS: T&C ratings were validated against a reference standard based on the Blessed Dementia Rating Scale and the Mini‐Mental State Examination. Reliability, contribution to physician recognition of dementia, and ease of use were assessed. RESULTS: In the outpatient setting, the T&C had a sensitivity of 63%, specificity of 96%, a negative predictive value of 93%, a positive predictive value of 77%, and test‐retest and inter‐observer reliability agreement rates of 95% and 100%, respectively. When T&C results were added to the physician's documentation of dementia, the number of missed cases decreased from 44% to 19%, and the number of overcalled cases decreased by 100%. When timed cut points were added, the T&C test had a sensitivity of 94 to 100%, specificity of 37 to 46%, negative predictive value of 98 to 100%, positive predictive value of 23 to 25%, and test‐retest and inter‐observer agreement rates of 82% and 70 to 75%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The T&C test is a simple, accurate, reliable, performance‐based tool that can improve physician ability to recognize dementia in diverse outpatient populations.