Detection of dementia of the Alzheimer type in a population-based sample: neuropsychological test performance.
The ability to detect dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) in a community-dwelling sample of elderly individuals on the basis of neuropsychological test performance was examined. Three hundred sixty community-dwelling individuals were identified by neurological examination as having probable or possible Alzheimer's disease, being at risk for Alzheimer's disease, or having no cognitive impairment. A logistic model comprised of tests of verbal and nonverbal memory, mental flexibility, and confrontation naming correctly classified 82% of DAT subjects and 98% of normal elderly subjects. The logistic model classified 77% of subjects who were diagnosed as at risk for Alzheimer's disease as being cognitively normal. A cross-validation with a clinically based sample of subjects correctly classified 89% of DAT patients and 100% of normal control subjects. The results suggest that psychometric discrimination of dementia may be less accurate in community-dwelling populations than in clinically based samples.
Cahn
D A
DA
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
Salmon
D P
DP
Butters
N
N
Wiederholt
W C
WC
Corey-Bloom
J
J
Edelstein
S L
SL
Barrett-Connor
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity