Validation of the Seven Minute Screen and Syndrom Kurztest among elderly Norwegian outpatients.
BACKGROUND
Brief cognitive tests represent a first step in the assessment of elderly people referred to outpatient clinics because of cognitive impairment. The aim of this study is to determine sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratio for a positive result (LR+) for the brief cognitive tests Seven Minute Screen (7MS) and Syndrom Kurztest (SKT) in an outpatient sample of elderly patients with no dementia or mild dementia.


METHODS
Ninety-five patients aged 65 years or more from 10 Norwegian geriatric and psychogeriatric outpatient clinics were included in the study. All the subjects had a Mini-mental State Examination score of 22-30. A consensus diagnosis of dementia according to ICD-10 was established by an expert panel that considered data from a standardized assessment protocol blinded for 7MS and SKT results.


RESULTS
Subjects were diagnosed with mild dementia (n = 69) or no dementia (n = 26). Sensitivity for 7MS was 71%, specificity 73% and LR+ was 2.6. Sensitivity for SKT was 65%, specificity 65% and LR+ was 1.9.


CONCLUSIONS
Sensitivity, specificity and LR+ for 7MS and SKT were unacceptably low in this outpatient sample.
Skjerve
Arvid
A
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. arvid.skjerve@bjorkeli.no
Nordhus
Inger Hilde
IH
Engedal
Knut
K
Braekhus
Anne
A
Nygaard
Harald A
HA
Pallesen
Ståle
S
Haugen
Per Kristian
PK
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009664:Norway; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results