Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR)

BioPsychoSocial Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet

Test: Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR)

Year: 1979

Domain: Psychological

Assessment Tool Category: Dementia/Alzheimer's

Variations/Translations: N/A

Setting: Clinical

Method of Delivery: Questionnaire, delivered by clinician

Description: It was developed primarily for use in persons with dementia of the Alzheimer type (the equivalent of probable Alzheimer’s Disease) and it can also be used to stage dementia in other illnesses as well. The CDR was designed to provide a global rating of the severity of dementia and to specifically monitor the cognitive and functional deterioration of the individual with Alzheimer’s disease.

Scoring/Interpretation: The Clinical Dementia Rating is a five-point scale in which CDR-0 connotes no cognitive impairment, and then the remaining four points are for various stages of dementia: - CDR-0.5 = very mild dementia - CDR-1 = mild - CDR-2 = moderate - CDR-3 = severe

Time to Administer: 40+ minutes

Availability: Can be found online (see below)

Software: N/A

Website: https://www.cebp.nl/vault_public/filesystem/?ID=1283

Quantitative/Qualitative: Both – clinician needs to assess the patient, and then give them a score. After giving them a score, an overall score is given and the stage of dementia is decided.

Validity (Quantitative): CDR detection of dementia among healthy elderly or questionable dementia was 86% and 80% sensitive, respectively, and 100% specific for both settings. Overall, validity was rated as “good” by a variety of assessors.

Reliability (Quantitative): CDR agreement among raters was demonstrated by percent agreement. Agreement to gold standard was good (kappa=0.75), as well as to the Blessed scale (kappa=0.73), and excellent to the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, DSM III-R, (kappa=0.78). Overall, reliability was assessed as “good” by a variety of assessors.

References:

Hughes, C.P., Berg, L., Danziger, W.L., Coben, L.A., & Martin, R.L. (1982). A new clinical scale for the staging of dementia. Br J Psychiatry, 140, 566–572.

Morris, J.C. (1993). The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR): Current version and scoring rules. Neurology, 43, 2412-2414.

Comments: N/A