OBJECTIVES: The "five-word test', derived from the Grober and Buschke test, is an easy and rapid tool to distinguish between organic disorders of memory encoding and apparent memory deficits due to inefficient information retrieval strategies. Its metrological characteristics require specification. METHODS: Subjects were classified as demented or non-demented according to DSM IV and NINCDS-ARDA criteria after a dementia assessment and a neuropsychological assessment. All subjects took the five-word test. RESULTS: In all, 142 patients took this test (81 with and 61 without dementia). It was insufficiently sensitive: 80.2% for a score of 10/10 and 60.49% for 9/10. Its specificity, however, was excellent: 100% for scores below 9/10. It also helped identify mistakes due to organic memory disorders, in the form of "intrusion" in the various tests. DISCUSSION: Although this test showed a lack of sensitivity for detecting dementia or organic memory disorders, it remains a useful tool: a pathologic score does permit affirmation of those diagnoses. CONCLUSION: The practical qualities (simplicity and rapidity of administration) of the five-word test make it an essential tool in the evaluation by geriatricians or general practitioners of cognitive disorders in the elderly.
OBJECTIVES: The "five-word test', derived from the Grober and Buschke test, is an easy and rapid tool to distinguish between organic disorders of memory encoding and apparent memory deficits due to inefficient information retrieval strategies. Its metrological characteristics require specification. METHODS: Subjects were classified as demented or non-demented according to DSM IV and NINCDS-ARDA criteria after a dementia assessment and a neuropsychological assessment. All subjects took the five-word test. RESULTS: In all, 142 patients took this test (81 with and 61 without dementia). It was insufficiently sensitive: 80.2% for a score of 10/10 and 60.49% for 9/10. Its specificity, however, was excellent: 100% for scores below 9/10. It also helped identify mistakes due to organic memory disorders, in the form of "intrusion" in the various tests. DISCUSSION: Although this test showed a lack of sensitivity for detecting dementia or organic memory disorders, it remains a useful tool: a pathologic score does permit affirmation of those diagnoses. CONCLUSION: The practical qualities (simplicity and rapidity of administration) of the five-word test make it an essential tool in the evaluation by geriatricians or general practitioners of cognitive disorders in the elderly.