Combined instruments for the screening of dementia in older people with low education.

Objective: To determine which combination of cognitive tests and informant reports can improve the diagnostic accuracy of dementia screening in low educated older people.
Method: Patients with mild to moderate dementia (n=34) according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R criteria and 59 older controls were assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Fuld Object Memory Evaluation (FOME). Informants were assessed using the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and the Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale.
Results: The 4 instruments combined with the mixed rule correctly classified 100% and the logistic regression (weighted sum) classified 95.7% of subjects. The weighted sum had a significantly larger ROC area compared to MMSE (p=0.008) and FOME (p=0.023). The specificity of the tested combinations was superior to the MMSE alone (p=0.002).
Conclusions: Cognitive tests combined with informant reports can improve the screening of mild to moderate dementia in low educated older people.