Acceptability and Results of Dementia Screening Among Older Adults in the United States

Abstract

Objectives: To measure older adults acceptability of dementia screening and assess screening test results of a racially diverse sample of older primary care patients in the United States.

Design: Cross-sectional study of primary care patients aged 65 and older.

Setting: Urban and suburban primary care clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2008 to 2009.

Participants: Nine hundred fifty-four primary care patients without a documented diagnosis of dementia.

Measurements: Community Screening Instrument for Dementia, the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Telephone Instrument for Cognitive Screening.

Results: Of the 954 study participants who consented to participate, 748 agreed to be screened for dementia and 206 refused screening. The overall response rate was 78.4%. The positive screen rate of the sample who agreed to screening was 10.2%. After adjusting for demographic differences the following characteristics were still associated with increased likelihood of screening positive for dementia: age, male sex, and lower education. Patients who believed that they had more memory problems than other people of their age were also more likely to screen positive for dementia.

Conclusion: Age and perceived problems with memory are associated with screening positive for dementia in primary care.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia screening; diagnostic assessment; memory; primary care.