Orientation-Memory-Concentration test

    Approximately 830 individuals over age 75 years were on the computer roster of a large outpatient clinic affiliated with a managed care organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We selected those individuals from this roster without diagnoses of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and their synonymous diagnostic codes in any patient encounter in the prior 2 years. Of the 611 individuals who met these criteria, we sent an introductory letter to 447 potential participants, informing them that they would be receiving a phone call as part of this study.
    Upon reaching a participant on the telephone, the examiner (an RN experienced in geriatrics and formally trained to administer the mental status examinations) informed the individual of who she was and the
nature of the study. For those who agreed to participate, they were given either the Orientation-Memory-Concentration (OMC) test (Katzman, Brown, Fuld, et al., 1983) or the Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screen (MCAS) (Knopman, Knudson, Yoes, & Weiss, 2000). Administration of the two generally alternated, except in a few circumstances in which a participant would agree only to the shorter of the two tests.

     After completion of the mental status examination, the participants were questioned on four issues. The first question asked how they thought they performed on the mental status examination ("How do you
think that you did on the tests we just finished?"), and the responses were good, fair, poor, or very poor. The second question was, "Apart from this interview, in the past few months, have you felt that you have had memory problems?", with the rating scheme as follows: "my memory is excellent," "my memory is as good as anyone else my age," "my memory isn't as good as it used to be, but it doesn't cause me any problems," "my memory has definitely deteriorated in the past few years and interferes with my daily activities," or "my memory is severely impaired." The third question was whether they would follow-up with their physician if the  were told that they had done poorly ("Suppose that the present interview showed that you had memory problems, would you be willing to have a medical assessment for memory problems at your clinic?", with yes, no, or possibly as the responses.
      The final question was open-ended, asking what they thought of the process of telephonic examinations. The study was approved by the HealthPartners Institutional Review Board. Oral consent was obtained to conduct the phone interview.