Usefulness of Clock Drawing Test in Detection of Dementia in Brain Dock

Abstract

Objective: It is important to have a convenient method of detecting dementia in patients in the early stage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the clock drawing test (CDT) in screening for dementia in Brain Dock (brain health check-up).
Methods: In 42 patients (20 male and 22 female, average age; 78.1±5.4 years) who visited Kanazawa-Nishi Hospital for dementia screening, we conducted the CDT by the Kono method, using automatic judgment by a PC, as well as evaluation by the MMSE, FAB, brain MRI, ECD-SPECT and MIBG scintigraphy. MRI findings were analyzed by VSRAD and those from ECD-SPECT by eZIS.
Results: The score for the CDT was 8.0±1.7 (mean ± SD). The MMSE score was 23.4±4.0 (mean ± SD) and that of FAB was 10.3±1.1 (mean ± SD). The CDT score was correlated with the MMSE (r=0.438, p=0.005) and FAB scores (r=0.423, p=0.007). However the CDT score was not correlated with the VSRAD, eZIS or MIBG results. In two patients with Lewy body disease, the CDT score was much lower than the MMSE and FAB scores.
Conclusion: Our study showed that the CDT with automatic judgment by a PC was a convenient screening technique.We found that the CDT score was correlated with MMSE and FAB scores. Therefore, the CDT is a useful screening tool for dementia in Brain Dock.