A Prototype Rapid Tool to Enhance Detection of Dementia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Primary Care

Abstract

Introduction: Dementia is prevalent within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities but clients attending primary care often remain undiagnosed. This project aimed to develop a rapid dementia screen for primary care. Methods: Logistic regression was used to identify candidate items from the Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA-Cog). The psychometric properties of different scales were assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and validated in a separate cohort. Results: Four items in the KICA-Cog demonstrated high sensitivity (82.6%), specificity (83.2%) and area under the curve (AUC = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.87–0.94) for dementia at a cut-off point of 7/8 o..