Screening for Dementia in Primary Care: A Comparison of the GPCOG and the MMSE

The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG) is a brief cognitive test. This study compared the GPCOG to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the most widely used test, in terms of their ability to detect likely dementia in primary care.

General practitioners across three states in Australia recruited 2,028 elderly patients from the community. A research nurse administered the GPCOG and the MMSE, as well as the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly Cognitive Scale-Revised that we used to define likely dementia.

Overall, the GPCOG and the MMSE were similarly effective at detecting likely dementia. The GPCOG, however, had a higher sensitivity than the MMSE when using published cutpoints.

The GPCOG is an effective screening tool for dementia in primary care. It appears to be a viable alternative to the MMSE, whilst also requiring less time to administer.