Sensitivity of the dementia rating scale in vascular dementia: comparison between two sets of criteria to define cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND

The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) is a common measure of cognitive function, but its sensitivity to identify deficits across cognitive domains in vascular dementia (VaD) remains unclear.

METHODS

We compared the sensitivity and specificity of two recommended cutoff scores of the DRS. Thirty-eight patients diagnosed with VaD participated in the current study.

RESULTS

The original recommendations resulted in poor sensitivity for the DRS total score and attention, construction, and memory subscales. The more recent recommendations greatly improved the sensitivity of the subscales and the total DRS score, but resulted in decreased specificity. Correlations between the specific DRS subscales and criterion measures of cognitive function revealed good convergent and divergent validity for most subscales.

CONCLUSIONS

The DRS is a valid measure of cognitive dysfunction in VaD, but clinicians should consider using the more recent recommendations developed for AD to determine impaired performances in VaD.