Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia: clinical utility in a memory clinic

Both dementia and depression may produce complaints of memory impairment. Differential diagnosis may be difficult, but has practical implications regarding the choice of appropriate treatment. The clinical utility of the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), a validated instrument for the diagnosis of depression in patients both with and without dementia, was assessed for the differentiation of patients with and without dementia who had been referred with complaints of memory impairment to a dedicated memory clinic.

Pragmatic prospective study of consecutive referrals with a suitable informant (n = 242) to a memory clinic, diagnosed using standard clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia (DSM-IV) and also administered the CSDD.

Using traditional parameters of diagnostic utility (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, likelihood ratios) CSDD performance was good for the diagnosis of depression but only modest for the diagnosis of dementia.

CSDD proved useful as a brief screen for depression in patients attending a memory clinic with a complaint of memory impairment.