title: Detection of dementia of the Alzheimer type in a population-based sample: neuropsychological test performance.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cahn
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Butters
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wiederholt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corey-Bloom
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Edelstein
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrett-Connor
mesh_terms: 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