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This study aimed to find cut-off scores for the Montgomery-Asberg rating scale (MADRS) and the Beck depression inventory (BDI) that can relate to specific clinical diagnoses of depression in Parkinson s disease (PD). Mild and moderate PD patients (n=46) were evaluated for depression according to the DSM IV criteria. All patients were assessed with the MADRS and the BDI. A "receiver operating characteristics" (ROC) curve was obtained and the sensibility, specificity, positive and the negative predictive values were calculated for different cut-off scores of the MADRS and the BDI. The Kappa statistic was calculated for different cut-off scores to assess the agreement between the clinical judgment and both scales. Depression was present in 18 patients. MADRS cut-off scores of 6 and 10 showed Kappa 0.5 and 0.56, respectively. Specificity of cut-off score of 6 was 78.6% and of cut-off score of 10 was 96.4%. Kappa agreement of BDI cut-off scores of 10 and 18 were 0.36 and 0.62, respectively. Specificity was 60.7% for 10 and 92.9% for 18. Both rating scales show similar accuracy within the ROC curves (84.3% for MADRS and 79.7% for BDI). The MADRS and the BDI show a good accuracy and correlation to the clinical diagnosis when a cut-off score of 10 is used to MADRS and a cut-off score of 18 is used to BDI to recognize depression in mild to moderate PD patients. This may help clinicians to recognize depression in PD.

This study aimed to estimate the quartile distribution on the cognitive assessment of normal elderly with low education as measured by the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG). A sample of 292 elderly (> 65 years of age), screened for dementia and depression, were assessed using the CAMCOG. The CAMCOG scores of normal subjects (n = 206) were stratified according to age (65-69, 70-74, 75-79, > 80) and schooling (illiterate, 1-4, and > 5 years of formal education). Mean age was 72.8 (+/- 3.5) and mean schooling was 3.5 years (+/- 3). The mean score on the CAMCOG was 71 (+/- 12.7). The scores at the first quartile for illiterate/1-4 years of schooling were 58/62 (65-69 years), 52/63 (70-74 years), 48/67 (75-79 years) and 46/64 (> 80 years), respectively. There was a significant difference in the CAMCOG quartiles according to education and age. This study provides normative data on the CAMCOG of elderly people with low educational levels which may be clinically useful.

No abstract

Cognitive performance is lower in elderly hypertensives as compared with elderly normotensives.