Normative scores of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised in healthy Spanish population

BACKGROUND

The Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised (CAMCOG) is widely used in clinical, epidemiological and research studies, but normative scores for age and educational level have not yet been established in the Spanish population.

METHOD

The CAMCOG-R was administered to 730 adult members ofthe community, aged between 50-97 years, living throughout the region of Galicia. Initial screening yielded provisional identification of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms. The final sample consisted of 643 cognitively healthy adults. The following instruments were administered: a questionnaire concerning socio-demographic and clinical data, the Charlson's Comorbidity Index, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Lawton and Brody Index, a short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the CASP-19 quality of life scale.

RESULTS

Internal consistency values of the CAMCOG-R were similar to those obtained for the original scale. The convergent validity between MoCA and CAMCOG-R was good, and the divergent validity between CASP-19 and CAMCOG-R was higher than the recommended value. Percentiles and inter-quartile range for age and educational level were calculated.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychometric indexes showed that the CAMCOG-R is a reliable and valid instrument, which can generally avoid a ceiling effect. The study findings confirm the importance of specifying the normative data by age and educational level.