Performance of Mattis dementia rating scale-Chinese version in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

BACKGROUND: To identify the applicability of the Chinese Version of Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS-CV). METHODS: The DRS-CV was administered to 483 participants, including 136 normal controls, 167 patients with mild cognition impairment (MCI), and 180 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the scale. RESULTS: The scores of DRS-CV were ranked in the order of NC > MCI > mild AD > moderate AD group. Memory was the sensitive function affected at a relatively earlier stage of AD. ROC curve analysis indicated the DRS-CV total score and memory subscale showed excellent sensitivity and specificity in the discrimination between MCI from mild AD and mild AD from moderate AD, but poor sensitivity and specificity in the discrimination between MCI and NC. CONCLUSION: The DRS-CV is useful to the early diagnosis and severity of AD, not to the early identification of MCI. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12883-021-02173-0.