Collected Dataset / CSHA2_Community

The population consists of a representative sample of people aged 65 and over on Oct. 1, 1990. Subjects were living at home (i.e., not in a long-stay institution) at some time during the recruitment phase of the study.

Community participants were interviewed in their homes (where the 3MS cognitive screening test was administered).

The community interview collected also social and demographic information, and assessed disability with ADL and IADL questionnaires. Information on functional ability and frailty (Use of assistive devices, Timed Up and Go test, pain), chronic problems, psychological well-being, healthy aging (psychological adjustment, life satisfaction, hobbies & social activities, overall rating), medical history were collected. All subjects who scored less than 78 were invited to undergo the clinical assessment as well as a sample of those who scored 78 or over.

Dementia was diagnosed based on a combination of medical and neuropsychological assessments administered in the patient’s home or a clinic. After the physician and neuropsychologist had independently made preliminary diagnoses, they met with the nurse to reach a consensus diagnosis and classified participants as demented, cognitively impaired but not demented (“CIND”), or as cognitively normal.

At the follow-up studies, the same diagnostic criteria were used for comparability with previous diagnoses, but cases were also re-diagnosed according to more recent criteria that had been developed since the study began. These included the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for Alzheimer's disease, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences (NINDS-AIREN) criteria for vascular dementia.

The examination was in four parts.

First, a nurse registered the subjects and completed consent forms, administered the 3MS exam, tested hearing, vision and vital signs, recorded height, weight and medication use, and obtained the subject's cognitive and family history from a relative, using section H of the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination (CAMDEX).

Second, a psychometrician, blind to the 3MS score from the interview, administered neuropsychologic tests to subjects with a score of 50 or more for the 3MS exam given by the nurse. A neuropsychologist evaluated the test results in conjunction with the results of the CAMDEX and the 3MS exam administered by the nurse.

Third, a physician reviewed the information collected by the nurse and examined the patient, performing a mental status assessment as well as physical and neurologic examinations. The physician then made a preliminary diagnosis before seeing the neuropsychologist's evaluation.

Participants suspected of having dementia or delirium were sent for hematologic and biochemical tests.

A blood sample was collected.

A close relative of participants who had died answered a decedent questionnaire.