The accuracy of the MMSE in detecting cognitive impairment when administered by general practitioners: A prospective observational study

Table 1 Crude and adjusted mean differences of paired MMSE scores obtained by GPs and UVAs for several patient characteristics; Rome, Italy, 2005

	Unadjusted mean difference	SE	p-value	Adjusted mean difference	SE	p-value
Gender			0.98			0.43
Female	-1.58	0.43		-1.72	0.37
Male	-1.60	0.54		-1.21	0.49
Age (in years)			0.02			0.11
65–74	-2.19	0.51		-1.41	0.44
75–84	-2.09	0.43		-1.97	0.39
≥ 85	-0.18	0.57		-1.05	0.55
Educational level (years of schooling)			0.58			0.58
0–5	-1.49	0.45		-1.66	0.33
6–8	-1.56	0.57		-1.09	0.58
9–13	-1.45	0.63		-1.20	0.55
≥ 14	-2.95	0.96		-2.56	1.31
Diagnosis made by UVA			< 0.01			< 0.01
Unconfirmed cognitive impairment	-4.00	0.44		-3.92	0.54
Mild cognitive impairment	-3.22	0.58		-3.25	0.59
Alzheimer's disease	-0.17	0.58		-0.16	0.53
Other types of dementia	-0.20	0.46		-0.29	0.48
Overall	-1.58	0.37

Note: Negative values in the mean differences indicate that the GPs provided higher scores than the UVAs. Adjusted mean differences are calculated from a multiple regression linear model, in which the independent covariates were all of the variables reported in the table. Standard errors of the estimated parameters of the model are corrected for clustering among patients evaluated by the same GP. P-values are adjusted Wald-tests evaluating the probability of having obtained these estimates under the null hypothesis that they were equal to zero (i.e., no difference among levels).

ISSN: 2731-4553