ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The increasing number of dementia patients is increasing the importance of identifying them and also those at a high risk of dementia. The early diagnosis and management of dementia can slow the progression of the disease and reduce the socioeconomic burden. For these purposes, the Local Dementia Centers established in all regions of Korea are working on the early detection of dementia using neuropsychological batteries. This study investigated the utility of the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery-Core (SNSB-C) in a dementia management project performed in the local community. METHODS: This study was conducted in two parts. The first part used data from the Local Dementia Centers to investigate the accuracy of detecting cognitive impairment in SNSB-C compared with the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery-Second Edition (SNSB-II). The second part of this study which data from hospital examined the accuracy of diagnosing dementia using SNSB-C. RESULTS: Data were collected from 508 participants at the Local Dementia Centers in Daejeon and 50 participants at a hospital. SNSB-C had a high sensitivity and specificity for detecting cognitive impairment, and also a high sensitivity, high specificity, and positive predictive value for diagnosing dementia. CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity in diagnosing dementia was as high for SNSB-C as for SNSB-II while taking less time. SNSB-C could therefore be a good diagnostic evaluation tool for use in local dementia centers.