DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PERSIAN VERSIONS OF CLINICAL DEMENTIA RATING (P-CDR) AND COGNITIVE STATE TEST (P-COST) IN THE ELDERLY DEMENTIA SCREENING

It is necessary to have dementia screening tools in high diagnostic accuracy level.
This study was designed to compare the sensitivity and specificity between two tools of P-CDR and PCOST in the screening of dementia in elderly people.
Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study, via diagnostic tests accuracy survey, was conducted
by using the known-groups method. 200 people as a sample size calculated in this study. The
convenience sampling method was used in Kashan, Iran, 2014. The clinical interview and the findings
of the CT-Scan were used, as the reference standard test. The index tests were the P-CDR and P-COST.
A demographic questionnaire, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and the P-CDR and P-COST
were used for data collection and data were analyzed by using the SPSS, version 16.0. The sensitivity
and specificity were calculated for each index tests, separately. McNemar test was used to compare
sensitivities and specificities between two index tests.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity for P-CDR was 100% and 94%, respectively, and these
parameters were reported for P-COST.94% and 86%, respectively as well. McNemar's test showed no
significant differences between sensitivities; but there were significant differences between specificities
(p=0.001).
Conclusion: The tools of P-CDR and P-COST had high and equal sensitivity in the elderly cognitive
state assessment. The Researchers and specialists can use one of these tools in dementia screening. The
suitable tool should be selected based on the target group characteristics, assessment objective, and
situational factors