The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (Modified): Relation with a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment

Abstract

The modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) is a widely used screening instrument for (Alzheimer's) dementia. Psychometric evaluation of the TICS-m is limited. This study examined the relation between the TICS-m and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in older persons (n = 243) without cognitive deficits. The TICS-m total score correlated with multiple cognitive domains (range r = .22–.49). Factor analysis of the TICS-m items yielded four interpretable factors: “verbal memory,” “orientation/mental tracking,” “language/reasoning,” and “attention/working memory,” which also showed (modest) correlations with the neuropsychological assessment (r = .02–.48). The TICS-m appears to reflect a “general cognitive ability” rather than, for example, memory functioning alone.

Keywords:

• Dementia
• Screening
• Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status–Modified
• Neuropsychological assessment
• Validity

Acknowledgments

E.v.d.B. and G.J.B. were supported by Grants 2001.00.023 and 2003.01.004 of the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation. The ADDITION study in The Netherlands was funded by grants from Novo Nordisk Netherlands, GlaxoSmithKline Netherlands, and Merck Netherlands. The authors would like to thank the ADDITION Study Group (G.E.H.M. Rutten), the Utrecht Diabetic Encephalopathy Study Group (University Medical Center Utrecht), the “Utrecht Diabetes Programma (UDP),” and the “IJsselstein Diabetes Project” (mentor: Ph. L. Salomé) for their assistance. The authors report no conflict of interest.