Validation of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Modified Telephone Interview for cognitive status among stroke patients.

AIMS: To examine the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-M) for cognitive impairment in post-stroke patients from the Stroke Mortality and Morbidity Study.
METHODS: The original version of the TICS-M was translated and adapted into Brazilian-Portuguese language in 30 non-clinical subjects. After that, two trained researchers applied the TICS-M in 73 stroke participants from the Stroke Mortality and Morbidity Study; however, 12 carried out only the first evaluation and 61 participants completed the follow up: (i) personal interview 6 months after stroke; (ii) telephone interview 1 week after the first evaluation; and (iii) telephone interview 2 weeks after the first evaluation. The reliability of the TICS-M was calculated by test-retest Pearson's correlation, intraclass correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient in 61 participants. Also, using data from the same participants, we carried out the analysis of the receiver operating characteristics curve using the Mini-Mental State Examination as a comparison. The structural validity of the TICS-M was assessed through principal components analysis in 103 individuals (30 non-clinical and 73 stroke patients).
RESULTS: Test-retest reliability and intraclass correlation ranged from 0.87 to 0.97 across the evaluations. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.96. Principal components analysis extracted three meaningful domains: working memory, recall memory and orientation. The best cut-off point to screen cognitive impairment was 14 out of 15 (91.5% sensitivity, 71.4% specificity). The area under the curve was 0.89.
CONCLUSIONS: The Brazilian version of the TICS-M has been found to be a reliable, stable and homogeneous instrument to screen cognitive impairment in stroke patients.