A Short Mental Status Questionnaire

A mental status questionnaire (MSQ) developed tor use in surveys of the non-institutionalized elderly has been validated against clinical assessment. The MSQ identities moderate and severe cognitive impairment in the elderly. However, using the suggested scoring subjects with mild impairment cannot be separated from normals. The test is short, acceptable and reproducible and rate for false-positives and false-negatives fall well within acceptable limits for use in estimating the prevalence of dementia in the non-institutionalized elderly population.