[Clinical evaluation of dementia in a cohort of 358 patients with the French version of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale]

A reliable global rating of dementia severity in Alzheimer's disease is critical both in clinical and research practice. In this paper, we present the results of the assessment of a cohort of 358 patients using the French version of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR).358 patients from a multicentric cohort were assessed in a comprehensive way: cognitive (Mini Mental Status Examination), functional (Activities of Daily Living), behavioural (Neuro Psychiatric Inventory) and global (Global Dementia Scale). CDR staging was performed after both patient and caregiver interview.27.6% of the patient had a CDR 0.5 (questionable dementia), 43% CDR 1 (mild dementia), 24.9% CDR 2 (moderate dementia) and 4.5% CDR 3 (severe dementia). All the rating scales were highly correlated with CDR stages (p0.0001). The CDR was also correlated with the Global Dementia Scale (p0.0001), but a perfect overlap of individual stages was not achieved.CDR staging takes into account the major domains of dementia assessment: cognition, function and behaviour. Staging Alzheimer's patients as CDR 0.5 arises the issue of the relationship between very mild dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment. This study represents the first step of the CDR (French version) validation which is underway in this cohort.