Bias in Assessment of Dementia: Differential Screening Power for High and Low Education Groups

• In Event: Adults: Dementia, Personality, Cognition, Depression, and Memories

Abstract

Early identification and screening of dementia patients has always been of great research interest to physicians and psychometricians. When psychological assessment is used, particularly for less developed countries with a large population of illiterate elderly people, it is important to ensure that the instruments are not biased against people with less education. In the present study, we studied the performance of 788 Chinese elderly people (383 normal, 405 with mild cognitive impaired) in a wide range of screening tasks for dementia. The differential screening power of these instruments for high and low education groups was examined in order to identify instruments that might be biased for people with minimal level of education.

Authors

• Jianfang Chang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Linda C.W. Lam, Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Grace Ty Leung, Tai Po Hospital

• Chi-Shing Tse, Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Kit-Tai Hau, Chinese University of Hong Kong