The validity of informant histories in a community study of dementia

Abstract

Abstract The CAMDEX is a structured interview schedule intended for use in community studies of dementia. It includes an informant interview in addition to a mental status examination and cognitive testing. In a Cambridge dementia prevalence study, the information given by informants, most of whom were relatives, was highly consistent with elderly subjects' scores on cognitive testing and with the observations made by research psychiatrists. Their reports were in serious disagreement with other parts of the asessment in only a small number of cases. Neither social class nor the relationship between informant and subject appeared to have any bearing on the consistency of informants' reports.