Dementia has emerged as a leading public health problem with
elderly persons and its early detection is important for treatment in
reversible cases and for educational support for family members.
The goal of this study was to compare validity of the Time and
Change Test and K-MMSE (the Korean version of the Mini-
Mental State Examination) for detecting dementia in the elderly
populations. Participants were 59 patients aged 65 years or older.
The time test evaluated the understanding of clock hands
indicating 11:10, and the change test did the ability making 1,000
Won from a group of coins with one 500-won, seven 100-won,
seven 50-won coins. Dementia was diagnosed by the DSM-IV
criteria while the Time and Change test and K-MMSE were
validated against a reference standard based on physician's
diagnosis. The Time and Change Test showed a sensitivity of
73.0% and specificity of 90.9% while K-MMSE a sensitvity of
97.2% and specificity of 42.9%. The Time and Chnage Test,
adjusting for age and sex, was not influenced (OR = 0.877, CI =
0.766-1.004), but K-MMSE was influenced by education. The Time
and Change Test is a simple, easy-to-use, performance-based tool
for screening of dementia in elderly populations.