Use of the Quick Dementia Rating System (QDRS) as an Initial Screening Measure in a Longitudinal Cohort at Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

The Quick Dementia Rating System (QDRS) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) assess global cognitive and functional decline. We evaluated whether the shorter QDRS was a valid screen for problems identified by the CDR in individuals with minimal clinical abnormalities. Agreement between QDRS-Global and CDR-Global was assessed for 54 participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention. Resource-savings achieved by adopting an “administer CDR-only-if-QDRS-Global>0” approach were estimated based on 238 subsequent participants. Agreement statistics (concordance = 88.9%) supported use of the QDRS as an initial informant report and modifying center protocol to administer CDRs only when QDRS>0 reduced CDR assessments by 79.8%.