The Validity of the MMSE and SMQ as Screening Tests for Dementia in the Elderly General Population – A Study of One Rural Community in Japan

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To compare the validity of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Short-Memory Questionnaire (SMQ) as screening tests to detect dementia in the elderly general population. Six hundred and sixty-two subjects and their informants from the elderly general population sample who had completed these tests. One rural community survey in Japan. We used receiver-operating characteristic analysis to compare the performance of the MMSE and the SMQ with the clinical diagnosis of dementia according to DSM-III-R. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of the MMSE and the SMQ were 0.980 (SE = 0.006) and 0.982 (SE = 0.008), respectively. This differed from chance to a highly significant degree for both the MMSE and the SMQ, but the difference between the two scales was not statistically significant. As screening tests to detect dementia in the elderly general population, the SMQ which is assessed by informants demonstrates a statistically significant discriminating ability as well as the MMSE.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: