Title : The SLU-AMSAD, a Short Screening Tool for Diagnosing Depression in Dementia Patients
Abstract:
The SLU AMSAD is a previously validated depression tool that consists of 5-items and takes less than 2 minutes to administer. The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) is the gold standard for assessing depression in dementia patients, but is lengthy, taking nearly 20 minutes to administer. The objective of this study was to compare this short tool with the lengthier gold standard, the CSDD, to diagnose depression in cognitively impaired patients. 63 patients, 65years and older were enrolled in the study from an out-patient clinic setting. A St. Louis University Mental Status Exam (SLUMS) score of less than 25 was used to include the eligible patients. All enrolled subjects were administered the SLUMS, SLU AMSAD, and the CSDD. The SLUMS score was used to classify the patients as having mild, moderate, and severe dementia. The preliminary data set analyzed data for N=63 cases of which 57.1% were female and 87.3% Caucasian with a mean age of 79.5. The average SLUMS score was 14.3 (7). For the total sample, area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity values exceeded 0.93, with a maximum sensitivity of 0.94 and specificity of 0.88 for an optimal cut-off score of 4/5.The SLU AMSAD had a very strong correlation with the CSDD as shown by the above results in this preliminary data sample of 63 patients. We intend to continue with the study and gather a total sample of 105 patients to add stronger statistical power to the study. What will audience learn from your presentation? • Early detection of depression and intervention is important. The audience will learn a short depression screening tool, which takes less than 2 minutes to administrate. Comparing to the gold standard CSDD, AMSAD is more efficient and equally sensitive in screening depression. Including AMSAD into clinic visits is time-efficient and applicable to all specialties.
