Self-administered cognitive screening for a study of successful aging among community-dwelling seniors: a preliminary study.
BACKGROUND
Cognitive functioning is a central component of successful aging. Yet, there are few published instruments for brief and reliable self-administered cognitive assessment that could be used in large population-based studies of community-dwelling elderly people.


OBJECTIVE
We examined the utility of a self-administered cognitive screening instrument in a group of community-dwelling older adults, and we evaluated correlations of the performance on this measure with demographic variables and specific indicators of self-rated successful aging.


METHODS
We assessed 182 well-educated adults ages 58 to 99 with a modified version of a previously published cognitive screening instrument (Cognitive Assessment Screening Test--Revised; CAST-R), a measure of cognitive complaints (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire; CFQ), and a self-rating of successful aging. We used the SF-36 Physical and Mental Composite Scores as measures of physical and mental health-related functioning.


RESULTS
As expected, most individuals performed well on the CAST-R; only 7% of participants fell below a previously established cut score for cognitive impairment. CAST-R scores were positively correlated with level of education, income, SF-36 Mental Composite Scores, and a self-rating of successful aging, and negatively correlated with chronological age. Scores on the CAST-R were not correlated with cognitive complaints (CFQ total score) or SF-36 Physical Composite Scores.


CONCLUSIONS
A self-administered cognitive screening tool may be a useful, albeit limited, way of screening for cognitive disabilities among well-educated, community-dwelling older adults. Although preliminary, significant associations with several successful aging-related variables in expected directions represent the first step in establishing the validity of the CAST-R.
Moore
David J
DJ
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, California 92161, USA. djmoore@ucsd.edu
Sitzer
David
D
Depp
Colin A
CA
Montross
Lori P
LP
Reichstadt
Jennifer
J
Lebowitz
Barry D
BD
Jeste
Dilip V
DV
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States