Five items differentiate mild to severe dementia from normal to minimal cognitive impairment—Using the Global Deterioration Scale

Abstract

Background/Purpose

The aim of our study is to develop a concise and effective dementia screening tool for use in primary care, wherein we selected five items from the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) that were most predictive of dementia diagnosis.

Methods

Our study population comprised 191 patients older than 60 years who visited four university hospitals between 2008 and 2011 for impaired memory or medical care. Our 5-item screening tool is an abbreviated version of the GDS. We compared the assessment results obtained through our model with those obtained through the GDS in order to evaluate the accuracy of our tool in detecting dementia.

Results

The screening tool had a sensitivity of 91.2%, specificity of 75.0%, a cutoff value of 12.495, and an area under the curve of 0.911 (95% confidence interval, 0.862–0.948; p < 0.05).

Conclusion

We anticipate that our abridged GDS, composed of five items, will facilitate a rapid, yet effective assessment of patients in primary care centers. Its use will benefit both patients and medical professionals by minimizing the length of time required to conduct the assessment, and by allowing early diagnosis and care of patients. However, further research with a larger population is required to verify its efficacy.