Background: The number of older people with cognitive impairment being seen in out patient settings is increasing. A brief screening test, which is culturally and educationally fair, would be very useful for clinicians for identifying dementia in these settings. Objectives: To examine the new cognitive screening test, the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS), and to compare it with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Method: We administered MMSE and RUDAS to 116 subjects, consisting of 58 patients with mild to moderate dementia and 58 age and sex matched controls. The two screening tests were compared with regard to sensitivity and specificity. We looked at the correlation of both tests with years of formal education among the controls. Result: RUDAS had a similar sensitivity but better specificity than MMSE, but did have an educational bias. Conclusions: RUDAS is a useful brief screening test in clinical settings.