Reliability of the Blessed Telephone Information-Memory-Concentration Test

Abstract

In-person cognitive evaluations can be costly and labor intensive in geographically widespread populations. Reliable telephone instruments that screen for cognitive status would greatly facilitate epidemiologic and other longitudinal studies. We evaluated the reliability of the Blessed Information-Memory-Concentration (IMC) test when administered by telephone. Eighty-four subjects with a wide range of cognitive abilities were administered the Blessed IMC twice over a 3-week interval. Forty-nine of the subjects were administered the test both by telephone and in-person, and 35 of the subjects were tested twice by telephone. Spearman's rank correlation was used to compare scores of the different administrations (.96; P < .001) and to examine test-retest reliability (.96; P < .001). The Blessed Telephone IMC (TIMC) test exhibits excellent reliability both when compared to in-person administration as-well as in test-retest results. The Blessed TIMC appears to be a practical instrument for population and longitudinal studies when in-person assessment is not feasible.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Powell DA , Furchtgot E , Henderson M , et al. Some determinants of attrition in prospective studies on aging. Exp Aging Res 1990; 16:17–24.

2. Breitner JCS , Welsh KA , Magruder-Habib KM , et al. Alzheimer's disease in the National Academy of Sciences Registry of aging twin veterans. Dementia 1990; 1:297–303.

3. Nesselroade JR , Pedersen NL . Factorial and criterion validities of telephone assessed cognitive measures: age and gender comparisons in adult twins. Res Aging 1988; 10:220–234.

4. Kent J , Plomin R. Testing specific cognitive abilities by telephone and mail. Intelligence 1987; 11:391–400.

5. Welsh KA , Breitner JCS , Magruder-Habib KM . Detection of dementia in community volunteers using telephone screening of cognitive status. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol 1993; 6:103–110.

6. Brandt J , Spencer M , Folstein M. The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol 1988; 1:111–117.

7. Brandt J , Welsh KA , Breitner JC , et al. Hereditary influences on cognitive functioning in older men. A study of 4000 twin pairs. Arch Neurol 1993; 50:599–603.

8. Folstein MF , Folstein SE , McHugh PR . “Mini-mental state.” A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 1975; 12:189–198.

9. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 3rd Ed. Revised. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1987.

10.

10. Blessed G , Tomlinson BE , Roth M. The association between quantitative measures of dementia and of senile change in the cerebral gray matter of elderly subjects. Br J Psychiatry 1968; 114:797–811.

11.

11. Katzman R , Brown T , Fuld P , et al. Validation of a short orientation-memory-concentration test of cognitive impairment. Am J Psychiatry 1983; 140:734–739.

12.

12. Katzman R , Aronson M , Fuld P , et al. Development of dementing illnesses in an 80-year-old volunteer cohort. Ann Neurol 1989; 25:317–324.

13.

13. Thal LJ , Grundman M , Golden R. Alzheimer's disease: a correlation analysis of the Blessed Information-Memory-Concentration Test and the Mini-Mental State Exam. Neurology 1986; 36:262–264.

14.

14. Armitage P , Berry G. Statistical methods in medical research, 2nd Ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1988.

15.

15. Rosner B. Fundamentals of biostatistics, 4th Ed. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1995.

16.

16. Lanska DJ , Schmidt FA , Stewart JM , Howe JN . Telephone assessed mental state. Dementia 1993; 4:117–119.

17.

17. Roccaforte WH , Burke WJ , Bayer BL , Wengel SP . Validation of the telephone version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. J Am Geriatr Soc 1992; 40:697–702.