Validation of an informant‐based cognitive screening tool for Parkinson disease

Introduction The objective of this study was to establish the psychometric properties of the AD8 Dementia Screening Interview in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) with or without cognitive impairment using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Tool (MoCA) for comparison. Methods The AD8 was translated into Malay for Malay‐speaking participants. A correlation analysis and a receiver operator characteristic curve were generated to establish the psychometric properties of the AD8 in relation to the MoCA. Results One hundred fifty patients and their caretakers completed the AD8 and MoCA. Using a cutoff score of 1/8, the AD8 had 81% sensitivity and 59% specificity for the detection of cognitive impairment in PD. With a cutoff score of 2/8, the AD8 had 83% specificity and 64% sensitivity. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 80%, indicating good‐to‐excellent discriminative ability. Discussion These findings suggest that the AD8 can reliably differentiate between cognitively impaired and cognitively normal patients with PD and is a useful caregiver screening tool for PD.