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The influence of education and social class on the diagnosis of dementia in a community population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

D. W. O'Connor ,
P. A. Pollitt  and
F. P. Treasure
D. W. O'Connor*
Affiliation:
Hughes Hall and Department of Community Medicine, University of Cambridge
P. A. Pollitt
Affiliation:
Hughes Hall and Department of Community Medicine, University of Cambridge
F. P. Treasure
Affiliation:
Hughes Hall and Department of Community Medicine, University of Cambridge
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor D. W. O'Connor, Monash University Heatherton Hospital, Private Bag 8, Cheltenham, Victoria 3192, Australia.
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Synopsis

We have reported previously that poorly educated elderly people and those of low social class were at much increased risk of scoring below the customary cut-point on the Mini-Mental State Examination, a widely-used, brief cognitive screening test. As part of the same study, subjects who scored 23 or less on the MMSE out of a maximum of 30 points, and a sample of those who scored 24 or 25 points, were assessed by psychiatrists using a structured, diagnostic interview. Assuming that persons who scored 26 points or above were cognitively intact (our data suggest that 2% or less were not), neither educational attainment nor social class had any influence on the likelihood that subjects would be diagnosed as demented. Our data suggest that social and psychological factors contribute substantially to cognitive test scores and serve to emphasize the importance of detailed assessment procedures in epidemiological surveys of dementia.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 219 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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