Screening cognitive impairment among institutionalized older Chinese men in Taiwan: a new minimum data set-based dementia screening tool is needed.
Dementia screening is of great importance in various health settings for older people, long-term care facilities are no exception. The need for an effective dementia screening tool being culture sensitive is important. Minimum data set (MDS) is a population instrument for health care management in the world, which also covers dementia screening. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the MDS-based dementia screening tools among older Chinese men in the Veteran Home in Taiwan. Overall, 576 participants (mean age: 80.9±5.3 years, all males, 92.7% physically independent), 18.6% had cognitive impairment according to the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) (mean score: 26.7±3.9). However, the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 5.5% by MDS cognitive performance scale (CPS) and 18.9% by MDS cognition scale (MDS-COGS). The screening results of CPS and MDS-COGS were highly interrelated (γ=0.93, p<0.001), and MMSE scores were also significantly associated with CPS and MDS-COGS status (γ=-0.50, p<0.001 and γ=-0.52, p<0.001, respectively). Although the prevalence of cognitive impairment by MMSE and MDS-COGS are similar, the results are significantly inconsistent (p<0.001). In conclusion, both MDS-COGS and CPS were significantly correlated with MMSE scores, but significant inconsistence was noted between screening results of MMSE, CPS and MDS-COGS. Further study is needed to develop MDS-based dementia screening tools for older Chinese men in Taiwan.
Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 160, Sec 3, Chung-Kang Road, Taichung 40705, Taiwan.
Chu-Sheng
CS
Lin
Ming-Hsien
MH
Lin
Li-Ning
LN
Peng
Liang-Kung
LK
Chen
Shinn-Jang
SJ
Hwang
Chung-Fu
CF
Lan
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009735:Nursing Homes; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013624:Taiwan; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology