The cognitive drug research computerized assessment system for demented patients: A validation study

Demeneted elderly patients (N = 23, aged 60–94) and controls (N = 22, aged 52–86) performed a version of the Cognitive Drug Research computerized Assessment System comprising cognitive tasks measuring choice reaction time, vigilance, and the sensitivity and speed of digit, word and picture recognition. The demented patients showed large and highly significant impairments in the speed of choice reaction and in the sensitivity and speed of all memory tasks. Correlations between the various scores from the computerized tests and those from the Folstein Mini‐Mental State Examination, the Kendrick Battery and the Kew were high and significant, implying that the computerized tasks measure similar aspects of cognition to procedures used to assess dementia. In 16 memory clinic patients, high correlations were also found between the Stockton Rating Scale and the scores from the computerized tests, suggesting that the latter have relevance to the general behavioural condition of the patients. These findings, together with evidence of good test‐retest reliability, indicate that, for demented patients, the utility of this system to assess cognitive change should be comparable to that of previous versions used with the young and with non‐demented elderly.