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Assessment of Cognitive Decline in the Elderly by Informant Interview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. F. Jorm  and
A. E. Korten
A. F. Jorm*
Affiliation:
National Health and Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Research Unit. The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
A. E. Korten
Affiliation:
National Health and Medical Research Council Social Psychiatry Research Unit. The Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

Cognitive decline in a sample of 64 elderly people was assessed by a standardised informant interview dealing with changes in memory and intelligence which had taken place in the previous 10 years. Scores from the interview were found to correlate (r=0.74) with the Mini-Mental State Examination. Moreover, the informant interview was found to be less affected by pre-morbid ability than the MMSE. Direct assessment of decline by informants may be a solution to the problem of contamination by pre-morbid ability which affects traditional cognitive screening instruments.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 2 , February 1988 , pp. 209 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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