Centre for Policy on Ageing



Accuracy of the clock drawing test for detecting dementia in a multicultural sample of elderly Australian patients
Author(s)	Joella E Storey, Jeffrey T J Rowland, David Basic
Journal title	International Psychogeriatrics, vol 14, no 3, September 2002
Pages	pp 259-272
Keywords	Ethnic groups ; Dementia ; Assessment procedures for mental patients ; Comparison ; Australia.
Annotation	93 consecutive new patients (mean age 78) at a geriatric outpatient clinic in Sydney and from a non-English speaking country of birth were asked to perform the clock drawing test at the beginning of each clinic visit. Each patient was then assessed by a geriatrician who collected demographic data, and administered the Modified Barthel Index, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Folstein Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and categorised each patient as normal or demented. Using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis, there were no significant differences in the clock scoring methods used to detect dementia. Performance of the clock drawing test was modest at best, with low levels of specificity across all methods. Scored according to these methods, clock drawing was not a useful predictor of dementia in this multicultural population. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030127205 A
Classmark	TK: EA: DA:4C: 48: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.