title: Sensitivity of the dementia rating scale in vascular dementia: comparison between two sets of criteria to define cognitive impairment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) is a common measure of cognitive function, but its sensitivity to identify deficits across cognitive domains in vascular dementia (VaD) remains unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the sensitivity and specificity of two recommended cutoff scores of the DRS. Thirty-eight patients diagnosed with VaD participated in the current study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The original recommendations resulted in poor sensitivity for the DRS total score and attention, construction, and memory subscales. The more recent recommendations greatly improved the sensitivity of the subscales and the total DRS score, but resulted in decreased specificity. Correlations between the specific DRS subscales and criterion measures of cognitive function revealed good convergent and divergent validity for most subscales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The DRS is a valid measure of cognitive dysfunction in VaD, but clinicians should consider using the more recent recommendations developed for AD to determine impaired performances in VaD.
authors.affiliation: Brown Medical School, Providence, RI 20903, USA. rpaul@lifespan.org
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Ronald A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Jeff N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Browndyke
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sweet
authors.forename: Jeffrey J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: Tricia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zawacki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012718:Set, Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013223:Statistics as Topic