Mini-Mental Status Examination: mixed Rasch model item analysis derived two different cognitive dimensions of the MMSE.

Objectives: This study published in two companion papers assesses properties of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) with the purpose of improving the efficiencies of the methods of screening for cognitive impairment and dementia.

Study Design And Setting: An item analysis by conventional and mixed Rasch models was used to explore empirically derived cognitive dimensions of the MMSE, to assess item bias, and to construct diagnostic cut-points. The scores of 1,189 elderly residents were analyzed.

Mini-Mental Status Examination: a short form of MMSE was as accurate as the original MMSE in predicting dementia.

Objectives: This study assesses the properties of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) with the purpose of improving the efficiencies of the methods of screening for cognitive impairment and dementia. A specific purpose was to determine whether an abbreviated version would be as accurate as the original MMSE in predicting dementia.

Study Design And Setting: A population-based post hoc examination of the performance characteristics of the MMSE for detecting dementia in an existing data set of 243 elderly persons.

[Diagnosis and treatment of Lewy body dementia].

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) has recently gained recognition as a separate disease. Lewy bodies are pathoanatomical inclusion bodies in the CNS. They are well known as part of Parkinson's disease where they are present mainly in the substantia nigra, and they are also found in large numbers in the neocortex.