Detecting dementia in just 12 minutes: the seven minute screen
- Correspondence to: V W Henderson Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and Departments of Geriatrics, Neurology, Pharmacology, and Epidemiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA and Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia; vhendersonuams.edu
There could be a useful niche for this neuropsychological test
The 11 item mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was devised as a brief yet “thorough” and “practical” assessment of the cognitive mental status.1 It is often used to screen for dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease and to grade dementia severity. From humble origins three decades ago, the MMSE has become the benchmark against which other cognitive instruments are routinely compared. Alternatives have been proposed to correct perceived limitations of the original; among these psychometric pretenders is the seven minute neurocognitive screening battery, or seven minute screen (7MS).2
The 7MS is a rational concatenation of four tests, each sensitive to the presence of dementia (temporal …
