Comparison of Cognitive Function in Dementia and Major Depressive Disorders Using The 7 Minute Screen Test

Abstract

The 7 Minute Screen Test (7 MS) has been reported to have the highest sensitivity and specificity among tests for the early screening of Alzheimer's disease. This test encompasses several cognitive regions including memory, temporal orientation, verbal fluency, and visuospatial and visuoconstructional abilities. This study was undertaken in order to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the 7 Minute Screen in the differentiation of dementia and depression. The 7 Minute Screen and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were performed with 26 inpatients exhibiting Alzheimer's type dementia (N=8), vascular dementia (N=8), major depressive disorder (N=10). The test battery consisted of the Benton Temporal Orientation (BTO), the Enhanced Cued Recall (ECR), the Clock Drawing (CD), and the Category Fluency (CF) tests. 1) No statistically significant differences were detected in the 7MS subtest scores of the 3 groups (p>0.05). On the Benton Temporal Orientation, the highest mean scores were obtained by the vascular dementia group. With regard to memory, the lowest mean scores were obtained in the vascular dementia group, but the Alzheimer's dementia group obtained the lowest Uncued Recall scores. However, the vacular dementia group scored lowest on Cued Recall. On the Clock Drawing and Category Fluency tests, the lowest mean scores were obtained by the Alzheimer's dementia group. 2) In the Alzheimer's type dementia group, Benton Temporal Orientation test scores were negatively correlated with the MMSE (r=-0.730, p<0.05), and the Clock Drawing scores were correlated positively with level of education (r=0.740, p<0.05). In the vascular dementia group, Cued Recall (r=0.784, p<0.05), total memory (r=0.804, p< 0.05) and Category Fluency (r=0.885, p<0.005) were positively correlated with MMSE scores. In the major depressive disorder group, we noted a negative correlation between Cued Recall scores and age (r=-0.725, p<0.05). The 7 Minute Screen proved superior to the Mini-Mental State Examination at detecting mild cognitive deficits. It might also prove useful in the discrimination of differences between dementia and depression. Our results suggest that 7MS is a useful test for the early prediction of dementia. However, further validation is necessary, as individual 7MS tests may be influenced by education level, age, and sex.