Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2009;27(3):201-13.
doi: 10.1159/000203344. Epub 2009 Feb 19.

Literature review of the Clock Drawing Test as a tool for cognitive screening

Elisabete Pinto  1 , Ruth Peters
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Literature review of the Clock Drawing Test as a tool for cognitive screening

Elisabete Pinto et al. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2009.

Abstract

Background/aims: The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is used in clinical practice for the screening of cognitive disorders. This systematic review aims to present and discuss the CDT scoring methods available in the literature, in order to find differences in administration and utility of the CDT.

Methods: A literature search was carried out in Medline (1966 to June 2008), Psychinfo (1967 to June 2008) and EMBASE (1980 to June 2008).

Results: All studies showed good interrater and test-retest reliabilities. The correlation with other standard screening tests was statistically significant in most studies, but the results were influenced by age, education and language. In studies that included patients with mild or questionable dementia, the CDT had a low sensitivity and variable specificity.

Conclusion: The CDT has the characteristics of a good screening method for moderate and severe dementia. However, the scoring method used and potential confounders need to be taken into consideration.

PubMed Disclaimer