Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

Objectives: To develop and validate an Informant Questionnaire (IQ) for detection of cognitive impairment in Chinese older people, as Informant Questionnaires developed in western countries may not be suitable. Methods: The new IQ was developed based on review of the literature, as well as the views of an Expert panel. Three groups of subjects aged 65 or above and their informants were recruited after informed consent: normal older people recruited in elderly centres, people with Mild NCD (Neurocognitive Disorder) and people with Major NCD (Neurocognitive Disorder). Clinical diagnosis of Major NCD and Mild NCD according to DSM-5 were made by experienced psychiatrists. All subjects and their informants gave written consent. The IQ test was administered to the informants, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) were administered to the subjects. The performance of the IQ in differentiating subjects with Major NCD, Mild NCD and normal elderly were compared with the clinical diagnosis, MoCA and the MMSE. Results: In total, 296 informants were recruited. Inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability after 6 weeks, of the IQ test were good. The internal consistency of the new cognitive test was satisfactory. The mean MMSE, MoCA and IQ scores showed significant differences among the 3 group of subjects. In the ROC curve analysis of the IQ in differentiating normal subjects from those with cognitive impairment (Mild NCD + Major NCD), the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.987 with an optimal cut-off score of ≥3. The performance of MMSE and MoCA in differentiating normal from cognitively impaired subject were inferior to the IQ. Conclusions: We have developed an IQ instrument useful for screening of cognitive impairment in Chinese elderly. Further crossvalidation studies involving a larger number of subjects are required.

Biography

Helen F K Chiu, is Professor of Psychiatry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and President of the Hong Kong Psychogeriatric Association; Past President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists, Past President of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists, as well as Past President of the International Psychogeriatric Association.  She has been Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1996 to July 2011. Currently she sits on the Editorial Board of several journals. She has around 400 papers published in scientific journals. Her major research interests are in the field of dementia and suicide.