A normative study of the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale: comparison of demographic influences between the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale and the Mini-Mental Status Examination.

BACKGROUND/AIMS We investigated the demographic influence on the performance of the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) and provided normative data of the HDS-R in the elderly. METHODS The HDS-R was administered to 803 community-dwelling cognitively normal elderly subjects aged 55 years or over. Cognitive disorders and psychiatric disorders were strictly excluded using the CERAD-K assessment packet and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. The demographic influence on the performance of the HDS-R was examined using multiple linear regression analyses, and compared with that on the performance of the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) using the Chow test and t statistics. Overlapping strata were used in developing age-, education- and gender-specific normative data of the HDS-R. RESULTS Age, education, and gender influenced significantly the performance of the HDS-R, and explained 22.5% of the total score variance. Older age, lower education, and male gender were associated with lower performance of the HDS-R. However, the demographic influence on the HDS-R was much weaker than that on the MMSE (t = 5.578, d.f. = 800, p < 0.001). The normative data of the HDS-R stratified by age (60-69, 70-79, > or =80), education (0-6, 7-12, > or =13), and gender were presented. CONCLUSIONS The HDS-R was more robust to demographic influences than the MMSE, and normative data may contribute to improving further its diagnostic accuracy for dementia.