de Jager, Celeste ABudge, MarcClarke, Robert2015-12-132015-12-130885-6230http://hdl.handle.net/1885/77035Background: Routine screening of high-risk elderly people for early cognitive impairment is constrained by the limitations of currently available cognitive function tests. The Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status is a novel instrument for assessment of cognitive function that can be administered in person or by telephone. Objective: To evaluate the determinants and utility of TICS-M (13-item modified version) for assessment of cognitive function in healthy elderly people. Methods: The utility of TICS-M was compared with more widely used MMSE and CAMCOG in a cross-sectional survey of 120 older (62 to 89 years) UK adults. Results: The TICS-M cognitive test scores (27.97, SD 4.15) were normally distributed in contrast with those for MMSE and CAMCOG that had a negatively skewed distribution. TICS-M scores were inversely correlated with age (r = -0.21) and with the NART fullscale IQ (r= -0.35), but were independent of years of education in this cohort. TICS-M was highly correlated with MMSE (r = 0.57) and with CAMCOG (r = 0.62) scores. The time required to complete the test is comparable to MMSE and substantially less than CAMCOG. Conclusions: The normal distribution of TICS-M test scores suggest that this test is less constrained by the ceiling effect which limits the utility of MMSE and CAMCOG test scores in detecting early cognitive impairment. TICS-M is an appropriate instrument to assess cognitive function in both research and in clinical practice.Keywords: adult; age; aged; Alzheimer disease; article; Cambridge cognitive examination; clinical practice; clinical research; clinical trial; cognition; cognitive defect; cohort analysis; comparative study; controlled clinical trial; controlled study; correlation Alzheimer's disease; CAMCOG; Cognitive; Dementia; Memory; MMSE; Telephone screening; TICS-M200310.1002/gps.8302015-12-11