ABSTRACT

Dementia has emerged as a leading public health problem withelderly persons and its early detection is important for treatment inreversible cases and for educational support for family members.The goal of this study was to compare validity of the Time andChange Test and K-MMSE (the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination) for detecting dementia in the elderlypopulations. Participants were 59 patients aged 65 years or older.The time test evaluated the understanding of clock handsindicating 11:10, and the change test did the ability making 1,000Won from a group of coins with one 500-won, seven 100-won,seven 50-won coins. Dementia was diagnosed by the DSM-IVcriteria while the Time and Change test and K-MMSE werevalidated against a reference standard based on physician'sdiagnosis. The Time and Change Test showed a sensitivity of73.0% and specificity of 90.9% while K-MMSE a sensitvity of97.2% and specificity of 42.9%. The Time and Chnage Test,adjusting for age and sex, was not influenced (OR = 0.877, CI =0.766-1.004), but K-MMSE was influenced by education. The Timeand Change Test is a simple, easy-to-use, performance-based toolfor screening of dementia in elderly populations.