METHODS OF SCREENING FOR DEMENTIA - A METAANALYSIS OF STUDIES COMPARING AN INFORMANT QUESTIONNAIRE WITH A BRIEF COGNITIVE TEST

A meta-analysis was performed on IO studies that directly compared an informant questionnaire with a brief cognitive test at screening for d ementia. The effectiveness (effect size) of the screening tests used i n each study was measured using the standardized difference between th e means of the demented and control samples. The informant questionnai res were found to have a weighted mean effectiveness of 1.74 [95% conf idence interval. (CI): 1.39-2.09], whereas for the cognitive tests, th e mean was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.23-1.73). These means translate into sensit ivities and specificities of 0.86 and 0.80 for informant questionnaire s, compared with 0.79 and 0.80 for brief cognitive tests. The effectiv eness of the informant questionnaires was found to differ significantl y from study to study, but the reason for this variation is not clear. It was concluded that informant questionnaires are as effective as br ief cognitive tests at screening for dementia and deserve to be used m ore extensively.