title: Diagnosing cognitive dysfunction in the elderly: primary screening tests.
abstract: The recognition of cognitive disturbances in geriatric patients has important clinical implications for the primary care physician. Commonly seen cognitive dysfunctions include dementia, pseudodementia, delirium, and frontal lobe syndrome; these may be confounded by overlapping depression. The cognitive examination covers such intellectual and behavioral functions as attention, memory, and language. As many psychiatric disorders result from neurologic brain disease, a psychiatric examination is essential. Mental status questionnaires are useful for screening of high-risk populations for dementia and to quantify the degree of cognitive dysfunction for purposes of management planning and surveillance.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University Medical College.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Alexopoulos
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mattis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003243:Consciousness; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008568:Memory; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009819:Office Visits; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation