ObjectiveThe Geriatric Depression Scale for screening depressive symptoms in the elderly has not been assessed in elderly outpatients who seek primary health care in Brazil. The objective was to determine the validity of the Short Scale for Major Depressive Episode or Dysthymia (GDS-15) in elderly outpatients. MethodsThe scale was applied in 302 subjects with 65 years and older and then examined by an independent geriatrician, blinded to the results. Major depression and dysthymia were diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated at several cutoff values and a Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was plotted. ResultsThe best equilibrium was at the cutoff value of 5/6 showing 81% sensitivity and 71% specificity; the area under the Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79-0.91). ConclusionsThe GDS-15 can be used for screening depressive symptoms in Brazilian elderly outpatients. The previously suggested cutoff value of 5/6 is adequate.

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Introduction:A number of studies have shown the impact of cognitive abilities on instrumental activities of daily living, in particular executive functions. Nevertheless, it is not clear to what extent these results can be generalized, given that most samples studied have not included people with a low educational level.Objectives:The current study aims to investigate the association between cognitive abilities and activities of daily living in older adults — with and without dementia — from a middle-income country.Sample:The sample consisted of 48 healthy older adults and 29 people with dementia, who were evaluated in an Outpatient Care Unit in a University Reference Center in Rio de Janeiro.Results:Regression analyses indicated that the best predictors for activities of daily living were performance in immediate verbal memory in the case of controls and in a categorical fluency task in the patient group. The educational level itself was not a significant predictor of functional ability in either sample, but showed moderate correlation with the predictors.Conclusions:These results suggest that educational level may be a mediating factor in the association of cognitive variables and activities of daily living, and indicate a potential dissociation in terms of predictors according to the diagnostic status, pointing to relevant treatment directions.

The study' goal was to evaluate the reliability of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination Revised-Brazilian version (Br-CAMCOG-R), a neuropsychological battery measuring the global cognitive function. It was applied on 123 elders and retested at a mean interval of 30.7 days; 60 were evaluated by two raters at the same time. The intraclass coefficient for the set of items and for the subscales varied from 0.93 to 0.98. In the retests the agreement was nearly perfect for the set of items. There was no expressive range in the stability of the instrument for sex, age, schooling, or for the presence of dementia. The Cronbach' alpha of the set of items of the test was high (0.89). The Br-CAMCOG-R has obtained a high level of stability with time, agreement among raters, and optimum internal consistency; it can be useful for epidemiological studies and in specialized clinics to evaluate cognitive functions in elders.

The Br-CAMCOG-R was useful for identifying cases of dementia among older adults with middle and low levels of literacy, but inadequate for the illiterate individuals.