[Normalization of cognitive and functional assessment instruments for dementia (NORMACODEM) (I): objectives, content and population].

UNLABELLED: To adequately evaluate patients with 4 neuropsychological deficits a project for norming cognitive and functional instruments that assess dementia (NORMACODEM) was designed. Four hundred fifty-one subjects in three groups: 254 controls, 86 patients with minor memory/cognitive deficits without dementia (DWD) and 111 patients with probable Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) according to the NINCDS/ADRDA criteria. Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS), Abbreviated Barcelona Test (ABT), Global Dementia Staging (GDS), Functional Assessment Staging (FAST), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Rapid Disability Rating Scale-2 (RDRS-2), Blessed Dementia Rating Scale (BDRS), Interview for Deterioration in Daily life in Dementia (IDDD), Geriatric Evaluation by Relatives Rating Instrument (GERRI), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (ZSRAS). Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. The characteristics of the sample were as follows. CONTROLS: 99 men, 155 women. Mean (SD) age: 64.6 (10.9) years. Mean (SD) educational level: 9.1 (4.9) years. DWD: 42 men, 44 women. Mean (SD) age: 65.8 (8.7) years. Men (SD) educational level: 8.4 (4.4) years. ATD: 48 mean, 63 women. Mean (SD) age: 68.3 (8.0) years. Mean (SD) educational level: 6.2 (4.3) years. The ATD patients were significantly older than the controls. Mean educational level was significantly lower in the ATD group than in the other two.