Using the neurobehavioral cognitive status examination as a screening measure for older adults

We evaluated the ability of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE) to accurately distinguish between healthy older adults and geriatric patients suffering from dementia. Although the NCSE correctly identified all dementia patients, it produced an unacceptably high rate of false positives among the healthy elderly (70%). Despite the NCSE's lack of specificity when using the recommended classification criteria, significant group differences were found on several individual subscales and on the total number of subscales passed. These findings suggest the need to further evaluate the appropriateness of the geriatric norms for the NCSE and highlight some of the unique considerations involved in the assessment of older adults.