Reliability and validity of the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire administered by telephone

Effective, economical, and reliable means of screening subjects for cognitive impairment when personal contact is not feasible could facilitate epidemiologic studies and longitudinal assessment. The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) is a 10-item examination that has been found reliable and valid in distinguishing demented subjects from cognitively intact subjects when given face to face. The current study assessed the utility of a telephone version of the SPMSQ in patients evaluated in an outpatient geriatric assessment program. Mean scores for both test versions decreased with dementia severity and correlated significantly. Mean score differences between the two versions were not affected by reports of hearing impairment or the time interval between test administration. Both test versions correlated significantly with the Mini-Mental State Examination. In distinguishing demented from nondemented subjects, sensitivity and specificity were .74 and .79 for the telephone test and .74 and .91 for the face-to-face test, respectively.