Screening by Telephone in the Alzheimer's Disease Anti-inflammatory Prevention Trial

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Reckess, Gila Z.^a | Brandt, Jason^{a; b; c; *} | Luis, Cheryl A.^d | Zandi, Peter^e | Martin, Barbara^f | Breitner, John C. S.^{g; h} | For the ADAPT Research Group

Affiliations: [a] Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA | [b] Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA | [c] The Copper Ridge Institute, Sykesville, MD, USA | [d] Roskamp Institute, Sarasota, FL, USA | [e] Department of Mental Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA | [f] Lancaster Heart & Stroke Foundation and Clinical Research Center, Lancaster, PA, USA | [g] Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, Canada | [h] Department of Psychiatry, McGill University Faculty of Medicine, Montreal, Canada

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Jason Brandt, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600N. Wolfe Street, Meyer 218, Baltimore, MD 21287-7218, USA. Tel.: +1 410 955 2619; Fax: +1 410 955 0504; E-mail: jbrandt@jhmi.edu.

Abstract: Compared with in-person assessment methods, telephone screening for dementia and other cognitive syndromes may improve efficiency of large population studies or prevention trials. We used data from the Alzheimer's Disease Anti-Inflammatory Prevention Trial to compare performance of a four-test Telephone Assessment Battery (TAB) that included the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) to that of a traditional in-person Cognitive Assessment Battery. Among 1,548 elderly participants with valid telephone and in-person screening results obtained within 90 days of each other, 225 persons were referred for a full cognitive diagnostic evaluation that was completed within six months of screening. Drawing on results from this panel of 225 individuals, we used the Capture-Recapture method to estimate population numbers of cognitively impaired participants. The latter estimates enabled us to compare the performance characteristics of the two screening batteries at specified cut-offs for detection of dementia and milder forms of impairment. Although our results provide relatively imprecise estimates of the performance characteristics of the two batteries, a comparison of their relative performance suggests that, at selected cut-off points, the TAB produces results broadly comparable to in-person screening and may be slightly more sensitive in detecting mild impairment. TAB performance characteristics also appeared slightly better than those of the TICS alone. Given its benefits in time and cost when screening for cognitive disorders, telephone screening should be considered for large samples.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, dementia, geriatric assessment, memory disorders, mild cognitive impairment, neuropsychology, prodromal period, telephone

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-130113

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 433-443, 2013