Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire (CIMP-QUEST): reported topographic symptoms in MCI and dementia

• Published in: Acta neurologica Scandinavica Vol. 121; no. 6; pp. 384 - 391
• Main Authors: Åstrand, R., Rolstad, S., Wallin, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2010; Blackwell
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; brain regional; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; dementia; Dementia - diagnosis; Dementia - physiopathology; Dementia - psychology; Female; Humans; informant; Male; MCI; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Ophthalmology; Principal Component Analysis; Psychiatry; Psykiatri; questionnaire; Reproducibility of Results; Retinopathies; Surveys and Questionnaires; validation; Nervous system diseases; MCI; questionnaire; Cognitive disorder; Topography; Central nervous system; Degenerative disease; brain regional; validation; Dementia; Encephalon; informant
• ISSN: 0001-6314; 1600-0404; 1600-0404
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2009.01312.x

Åstrand R, Rolstad S, Wallin A. Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire (CIMP‐QUEST): reported topographic symptoms in MCI and dementia. 
Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 121: 384–391.
© 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard.
Objective –  The Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire (CIMP‐QUEST) is an instrument based on information obtained by key informants to identify symptoms of dementia and dementia‐like disorders. The questionnaire consists of three subscales reflecting impairment in parietal‐temporal (PT), frontal (F) and subcortical (SC) brain regions. The questionnaire includes a memory scale and lists non‐cognitive symptoms. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were examined in 131 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia at a university‐based memory unit.
Methods/Results –  Cronbach alpha for all subscales was calculated at r = 0.90. Factor analysis supported the tri‐dimensionality of CIMP‐QUEST’s brain region‐oriented construct. Test–retest reliability for a subgroup of cognitively stable MCI‐patients (n = 25) was found to be r = 0.83 (P = 0.0005). The correlation between the score on the cognitive subscales (PT + F + M) and Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly was r = 0.83 (P = 0.0005, n = 123). The memory subscale correlated significantly with episodic memory tests, the PT subscale with visuospatial and language‐oriented tests, and the SC and F subscales with tests of attention, psychomotor tempo and executive function.
Conclusions –  CIMP‐QUEST has high reliability and validity, and provides information about cognitive impairment and brain region‐oriented symptomatology in patients with MCI and mild dementia.