The appropriateness of short cognitive tests for the identification of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia

We examined the appropriateness of three short cognitive tests for the identification of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in Alzheimer's disease. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), its derivate, the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), and a novel screening tool (DemTect) were compared. The expert diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or mild to moderate dementia, based on the neuropsychological battery of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-NP), was used as a validity criterion. MMSE and TICS showed a low sensitivity in the distinction between patients with mild cognitive impairment and cognitively healthy elderly. In contrast, for this study the allocation accuracy by DemTect was 90 per cent. In the distinction between patients with mild to moderate dementia, MMSE and TICS performed equally well; they had a sensitivity of approximately 90 per cent and did not produce any false positive diagnoses. Both tests, however, did not perform as well as DemTect, which achieved a perfect group discrimination. For the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild to moderate dementia in Alzheimer's disease, short, practical, and accurate tests are available.