Validation of the German version of the 6‑item screener : Brief cognitive test with broad application possibilities

Especially during admission the detection of cognitive deficits relevant to everyday life should burden patient and examiner as little as possible. The 6‑item screener (SIS) takes approximately 1 min, is easy to learn, does not require any material and is independent of the patient's visual and fine motor skills. The test was first published in 2002 by Callahan who approved the present German translation. We checked the convergent and discriminant validity, reliability and sensitivity to change of the German translation among geriatric patients. A total of 165 patients in an acute geriatric department performed the SIS (4 times), the mini mental state examination (MMSE, 2 times), clock-drawing test according to Shulman (2 times), the Regensburg verbal fluency test (2 times) and the Montgomery-Åsberg depression rating scale within a period of 16 days. The overall judgment of a physician blinded to the test results served as the reference standard. The SIS closely correlated with the medical judgment (-0.729). The retest reliability was 0.705 and the internal consistency 0.821 (Cronbach's alpha). The sensitivity to detect cognitive deficits relevant to activities of daily living was 100% if a threshold of 5 points was chosen. The achievement of maximum points largely rules out even mild cognitive impairment. The SIS is a valid, reliable short cognitive test. Using a threshold of 5 points the SIS detects cognitive deficits relevant to daily living with a higher sensitivity than the MMSE with a threshold of 25. When the maximum score is achieved there are no medical indications for further cognitive assessment of clinically unremarkable geriatric patients. The brevity and simple application of the SIS also enable its application outside geriatric wards.