The relationship of clinical psychopathologic rating and cognitive factors to clinical dementia staging.

1. Sixty-six patients were assessed by one of three physicians employing CERAD assessment and were staged by CDR criteria. 2. The same day, trained raters completed the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and the Mini-mental State Examination. 3. Clinician's Global Rating of the CDR is strongly related to the Mini-mental State Examination Score. 4. The CDR is insensitive to mild psychopathology in this population.