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Performance of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) as a screening test for dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. F. Jorm*
Affiliation:
NH & MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
R. Scott
Affiliation:
NH & MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
J. S. Cullen
Affiliation:
NH & MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
A. J. MacKinnon
Affiliation:
NH & MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr A. F. Jorm, NH & MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

Synopsis

A 26-item informant questionnaire (IQCODE) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were compared as screening tests for dementia in a sample of 69 patients. Dementia diagnoses were made by both a clinician and a research interview using a computer algorithm to meet DSM-III-R and ICD-10 (Draft) criteria. The IQCODE was found to perform at least as well as the MMSE against all diagnoses and significantly better when judged against the algorithmic ICD-10 diagnoses. Also, the IQCODE was found to be uncontaminated by pre-morbid ability as estimated from the National Adult Reading Test and to have very high test–retest reliability after a delay of a day or more.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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