Validity and applicability of the Chinese version of community screening instrument for dementia

The development of an educationally independent screening instrument for dementia is most valuable for epidemiological studies. The Community Screening Instrument for Dementia (CSI-D) was applied to 120 subjects, with 30 matched for age in each of the four groups of mild to moderately demented, depressed, low-education and high-education normal control subjects. The internal consistency and interrater reliability of CSI-D were satisfactory. Correlation with the ten-word-list learning task, a test sensitive to early dementia, was high. CSI-D could differentiate the demented from nondemented subjects, but not the high- from the low-education control group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed good test performance of CSI-D. In conclusion, the Chinese version of CSI-D is a valid, reliable and educationally independent screening instrument for dementia sensitive to detect early stage of the disease.