Can IQCODE detect poststroke dementia?

Background Little is known about the performance of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) in the screening of post-stroke dementia (PSDE). Methods At 3 months after the index stroke, a research assistant administered the IQCODE to relatives of 189 Chinese patients with acute stroke who were consecutively admitted to a general hospital. A psychiatrist, who was blind to the IQCODE scores, interviewed all 189 patients and made DSM-IV diagnosis of dementia, which served as the benchmark for judging the performance of IQCODE in screening PSDE. Results The optimal cut-off point of IQCODE was 3.40. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of IQCODE, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, were 88%, 75%, 33%, 98%, and 0.88, respectively. Conclusions When used as a sole instrument, IQCODE does not appear to be useful in screening PSDE in Chinese elderly. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.