Can an informant questionnaire be used to predict the development of dementia in medical inpatients?

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether elderly medical inpatients without dementia who score >3.31 on the short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) are at an increased risk of developing dementia.

Design/participants: Twenty-nine patients with an IQCODE score of >3.31 without dementia and 29 age- and sex-matched controls, from an original sample of 201 medical inpatients over 65, were examined 17-24 months after initial assessment.

Setting: Interviews took place in patients' homes, but all subjects had been recruited while medical inpatients in a general hospital 17-24 months previously.

Measures: The IQCODE and clinical interview to make DSM-III-R diagnosis of dementia.

Results: Ten of the study group and one control had developed dementia since the original assessment.

Conclusions: Non-demented elderly medical inpatients with an admission IQCODE score of >3.31 are more likely to develop dementia than those with an IQCODE score of <3.31. The IQCODE is a sensitive tool for detecting early dementia.