CSIS: Proposal for a New Combined Screening Interpretation Score for Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

Introduction: It is essential to have sensitive, economical and quickcognitive screening tools for early detection of Mild CognitiveImpairment (MCI). The objective of the present study was to assess anew way of interpreting widely used screening tests, generating a newscore: the CSIS (Combined Screening Interpretation Score). The CSISconsiders the performance in various routine screening tests (MMSE,Clock drawing test, Short form of the Boston naming test,Phonological and Semantic fluency tests and the Frontal AssessmentBattery) by summing up their gross scores in one general score.Methods: We calculated the CSIS of 90 Hispanic older adults withoutdementia (40 controls and 50 patients with a diagnosis of MCI). Thedifferences of the CSIS between the groups, and the discriminativecapacity of the CSIS and each separate test were analyzed.Results: Significant differences in the CSIS were observed betweenthe groups, as a higher discriminative capacity of the CSIS compared tothe other screening tests. A score of 86 points in the CSIS discriminatesthe groups with 84% sensitivity and 90% specificity.Conclusion: It is concluded that the CSIS is a useful, simple and brieftool to assess the cognitive performance of subjects with MCI.