Cognitive domains associated with performance on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status—modified

Abstract

Global cognitive screening tests are increasingly used in clinical and research settings. However, many have not been developed following systematic psychometric principles; thus, construct validity is not clearly defined. It is the aim of this study to identify the cognitive domains that are associated with the total score from the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-modified (TICS-m). Data came from 104 women (75 years of age and older) who were participants in a longitudinal study of dementia and had been given the TICS-m and a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests. Factor analysis of all these neuropsychological tests yielded six interpretable factors: episodic memory for words, episodic memory for contextual information, working memory, episodic memory for nonverbal information, attention, and visuospatial processing efficiency. The TICS-m score showed modest associations with several distinct cognitive domains, including episodic memory for words and nonverbal information and attention.