The self-report scales of mood and morale were administered to 45 elderly in-patient depressives and 45 non-patient controls, matched for age and sex. The responses of the two groups differed significantly in the predicted direction. When 18 patients from the depressive group were re-tested 6 to 8 weeks later, at discharge, significant declines in self-reported depression, and increases in "life-satisfaction' were reported. Within the depressive group, there was a significant relationship between "overt' depressive behaviour on the ward and self-reporting of greater depressive symptoms, and lower "life-satisfaction'. The importance of independent validation of self-report measures of mood and morale in elderly populations is discussed.

To compare the case-fi nding ability of the Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS) to the mini-COG in elderly hospitalised patients, with the ultimate aim of improving screening for dementia. Methods The AMTS and mini-COG were administered to a cohort of 40 inpatients aged 68-94 (median age 82, mean age 81.1) over a 2-week period. Three doctors administered the tests and one doctor performed all of the scoring. Results Of the 40 patients screened, eight were identifi ed as 'cases' by the AMTS. The mini-COG identifi ed the same eight patients, but went on to detect a further 11 'cases'. All 11 of these additional 'cases' had abnormal clock-draws. The following are examples of clock-draws from two of these 11 patients who had a normal AMTS but an abnormal mini-COG. It is immediately obvious that there is signifi cant visualspatial impairment in both of these patients, and that further diagnostic assessment should be performed.