The Rapid Dementia Screening Test (RDST): a new economical tool for detecting possible patients with dementia.

The Rapid Dementia Screening Test (RDST) is a new psychometric screening tool to support the diagnosis of dementia. It includes two parts--a word generation task and a number transcoding task; it is short (taking approximately 3 min) and easy to administer, and it is well accepted by patients. After transformation of the raw scores in two age groups (under and over 60 years), the assessed cognitive abilities can be interpreted as age-appropriate or below average with good sensitivity and specificity, and subsequent diagnostic measures can be determined accordingly. The RDST is thus an economical tool for detecting demented patients by general practitioners. Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel