BRIEF REPORT ON THE COMPARISON OF THE ROWLAND UNIVERSAL DEMENTIA ASSESSMENT SCALE AND MINI-MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION

Background. There is one new case of dementia emerging every 4 seconds across the world. Earlier diagnosis and early intervention using cognitive measurement tool can minimize further deterioration caused by dementia. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) has been known to be most widely used instrument for screening dementia. Whereas the (MMSE) was reported to have educational and cultural bias, the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has been reported to be a good alternative as a dementia screening tool for multicultural populations in the community. A great deal of literatures had reported testing of the RUDAS in countries across the world and compared both tools. However, the literature was lacking on comparison of the RUDAS and the MMSE particularly on its diagnostic properties. Objectives. To review the literatures on comparison of the RUDAS and the MMSE as dementia screening instruments with focus on its diagnostic properties. Methods. A literature review was conducted using a simplified approach of thematic analysis. (i) adult populations (>18 years) assessed with the RUDAS as well as the MMSE, (ii) all study designs as long as original data were used; and (iii) studies published in English. Exclusion criteria were: (i) studies not assessing the RUDAS and the MMSE in its entirety and (ii) studies did not involve direct interview with participants. The search terms used was the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale, the Mini Mental State Examination. Academic Search Complete (EBSCO), Medline with Full-text and ProQuest using the following search terms: the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale and Mini Mental State Examination . Results. Overall, 101 papers were identified through searching databases and 2 papers from manual searching. A total of 11 articles were included in this review. The mean sensitivity of the RUDAS across the papers was 80.63 (SD ±8.62; 95% CI) and mean specificity of the RUDAS was 82.62 (SD ±10.7; 95% CI), indicating good (higher than 70%) sensitivity for the RUDAS. Whereas the mean sensitivity of the MMSE was 83.42 (SD ±7.82; 95% CI) with mean specificity of 74.65 (SD ±15.5; 95% CI).  Conclusions. The RUDAS had higher level of sensitivity but lower specificity than the MMSE, reflecting comparable capability of the RUDAS to the MMSSE to rule out people who do not have dementia.tia.