title: Cognitive screening of older adults: the utility of pentagon drawing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Drawing tests have a long history in neuropsychological assessment. A popular geometric figure has been the two intersecting pentagons from the Bender Gestalt test. Reproducing the pentagons is the main visuospatial task on the original Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), remaining in use in revised versions of that widely used screening test. Scoring criteria on the MMSE are binary: perfect reproduction of the figure is required, while the Modified MMSE of Teng and Chui (1987) uses a more refined ten-point scoring for the elements of the figure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here, I report on the use of pentagon drawing from 8,702 older community-dwelling Canadians (59.3% female), with a mean age of 75.5 years (SD = 6.99) and 10.1 years of education (SD = 3.89). Mean scores for the whole sample are reported, as well as for subsamples who underwent a full clinical assessment and were diagnosed as cognitively intact, with dementia, or cognitively impaired, but without dementia. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the utility of pentagon drawing as a diagnostic tool to diagnose cognitive impairment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Binary scoring was less effective in discriminating groups than the ten-point system and showed weaker properties by other criteria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The discussion focuses on the role of simple, non-verbal tasks in the cognitive screening of older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. edward.helmes@jcu.edu.au
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Helmes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index