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A Review of Telephone-Administered Screening Tests for Dementia Diagnosis

Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, msmith23{at}lifespan.org

Geoffrey Tremont, PhD

Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island

Brian R. Ott, MD

Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island

Dementia screening measures serve an important role in epidemiological research, clinical trials, identifying patients for more comprehensive assessment, and monitoring progression. Telephone-administered measures allow increased flexibility. Although there are several extant telephone-administered measures that offer the promise of efficient detection of cognitive impairment, research evidence supporting their use is limited. We review telephone-based cognitive screening instruments for detecting dementia or mild cognitive impairment, critically review the evidence for their validity, and make recommendations for future research directions. Most measures reviewed do a good job of classifying patients as likely to have dementia or likely to be neurologically healthy. However, with sensitivity values ranging from 38% to 100% and specificity values ranging from 79% to 100%, there is considerable variability in the measures available. Future validation studies should reflect the populations most likely to benefit from a telephone-based measure, namely community-dwelling elderly who have not yet been identified as being cognitively impaired.

Key Words: screening measures • telephone-administered tests • neuropsychological assessment • mild cognitive impairment • dementia

This version was published on February 1, 2009

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias®, Vol. 24, No. 1, 58-69 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1533317508327586


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