Questionnaire Flags Possible Dementia

Howard Fillit, M.D., executive director of the Institute for the Study of Aging in New York City, and coworkers have developed a brief phone questionnaire to flag persons who may have dementia and should be tested further for it.

The questionnaire consists of only three questions—one revealing whether a person has trouble remembering three words after a delay; one revealing whether a person ever needs help in planning a trip for errands, and if so, how often; and one revealing whether a person ever needs help with remembering to take medications, and if so, how often. The questionnaire is designed to be given over the phone by a nonclinical interviewer. It is easily scored and can be interpreted within moments of completion.

The questionnaire was designed, piloted, and tested for reliability and validity on 60 cognitively impaired persons and 44 elderly individuals with intact cognitive function. The science on which the questionnaire is based was published in the August Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management.

When the questionnaire is used in a population where 1 in 10 persons has Alzheimer’s, its positive predictive value is 0.42. This means that of 100 persons who have a positive result, 42 have cognitive impairment. This value compares favorably with some other common screening tests, such as fecal occult blood testing for colon cancer. ▪