BRIEF COGNITIVE SCREENING IN A FIELD SURVEY OF THE OLDEST-OLD

A nationally representative survey of living conditions among persons aged 77 to 98 years included a short instrument for cognitive impairme nt consisting of items from the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Because of the wide range of social, health, and economic domains incl uded in the survey, it was necessary that the instrument could be admi nistered in a short time by interviewers without experience in neurops ychological testing. Because of the age of the subjects, the instrumen t must be relatively independent of sensory or motor disabilities, and be acceptable to both interviewers and older adults. There were very few problems with the use of the instrument and very little missing da ta. A cut-off point for cognitive impairment was ascertained for the i tems included in this instrument using other data sets where diagnosti c confirmation was available. Being able to identify subjects who are probably cognitively impaired is helpful in a multipurpose survey stud y of the oldest old, both in documenting the cognitive status of the s ample and in evaluating the quality of other information being collect ed in the study. (C) 1996, Editrice Kurtis