Cognitive screening of older adults: the utility of pentagon drawing

Helmes, Edward (2013) Cognitive screening of older adults: the utility of pentagon drawing. International Psychogeriatrics, 25 (3). pp. 413-419.

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Abstract

Background: Drawing tests have a long history in neuropsychological assessment. A popular geometric figure has been the two intersecting pentagons from the Bender Gestalt test. Reproducing the pentagons is the main visuospatial task on the original Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), remaining in use in revised versions of that widely used screening test. Scoring criteria on the MMSE are binary: perfect reproduction of the figure is required, while the Modified MMSE of Teng and Chui (1987) uses a more refined ten-point scoring for the elements of the figure.

Methods: Here, I report on the use of pentagon drawing from 8,702 older community-dwelling Canadians (59.3% female), with a mean age of 75.5 years (SD = 6.99) and 10.1 years of education (SD = 3.89). Mean scores for the whole sample are reported, as well as for subsamples who underwent a full clinical assessment and were diagnosed as cognitively intact, with dementia, or cognitively impaired, but without dementia. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the utility of pentagon drawing as a diagnostic tool to diagnose cognitive impairment.

Results: Binary scoring was less effective in discriminating groups than the ten-point system and showed weaker properties by other criteria.

Conclusions: The discussion focuses on the role of simple, non-verbal tasks in the cognitive screening of older adults.

Item ID: 24826
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1741-203X
Keywords: cognitive screening; MMSE; drawing tests; dementia; CIND
Funders: Canada’s National Health Research & Development Program (NHRDP)
Date Deposited: 06 Feb 2013 04:27
FoR Codes: 17 PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES > 1701 Psychology > 170101 Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology) @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920112 Neurodegenerative Disorders Related to Ageing @ 100%
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