Diagnostic performance of short portable mental status questionnaire for screening dementia among patients attending cognitive assessment clinics in Singapore.
Abstract
<h4>Introduction</h4>The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) is a brief
cognitive screening instrument, which is easy to use by a healthcare worker with little
training. However, the validity of this instrument has not been established in Singapore.
Thus, the primary aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of
SPMSQ for screening dementia among patients attending outpatient cognitive assessment
clinics and to assess whether the appropriate cut-off score varies by patient's age
and education. A secondary aim of the study was to map the SPMSQ scores with Mini-Mental
State Examination (MMSE) scores.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>SPMSQ and MMSE were
administered by a trained interviewer to 127 patients visiting outpatient cognitive
assessment clinics at the Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital and
Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The geriatricians at these clinics then diagnosed these patients
with dementia or no dementia (reference standard). Sensitivity and specificity of
SPMSQ with different cut-off points (number of errors) were calculated and compared
to the reference standard using the Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analysis.
Correlation coefficient was also calculated between MMSE and SPMSQ scores.<h4>Results</h4>Based
on the ROC analysis and a balance of sensitivity and specificity, the appropriate
cut-off for SPMSQ was found to be 5 or more errors (sensitivity 78%, specificity 75%).
The cut-off varied by education, but not by patient's age. There was a high correlation
between SPMSQ and MMSE scores (r = 0.814, P <0.0001).<h4>Conclusion</h4>Despite the
advantage of being a brief screening instrument for dementia, the use of SPMSQ is
limited by its low sensitivity and specificity, especially among patients with less
than 6 years of education.
Type
Journal articleSubject
HumansDementia
Mass Screening
Geriatric Assessment
Reproducibility of Results
ROC Curve
Mental Competency
Intelligence Tests
Age Factors
Reference Standards
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Middle Aged
Educational Status
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Singapore
Female
Male
Comparative Effectiveness Research
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
David Bruce Matchar
Professor of Medicine
My research relates to clinical practice improvement - from the development of clinical
policies to their implementation in real world clinical settings. Most recently my
major content focus has been cerebrovascular disease. Other major clinical areas in
which I work include the range of disabling neurological conditions, cardiovascular
disease, and cancer prevention. Notable features of my work are: (1) reliance on
analytic strategies such as meta-analysis, simulation, decision analy

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