J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1989; 1:181-187
Copyright © 1989 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
The construct validity of the ischemic score of Hachinski for the detection of dementias
DB Larson, JS Lyons, JC Bareta, BJ Burns, DG Blazer and ID Goldstrom
Division of Biometry and Applied Sciences, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland 20857.
Two hundred forty-one nursing home patients from the National Nursing Home
Survey Pretest were assessed using the Ischemic Score of Hachinski. Medical
chart diagnoses were used to classify those with and without dementia. The
Mini-Mental State Examination was used to assess the accuracy of the
medical-chart diagnoses of dementia. The Ischemic Score failed to
differentiate multi-infarct dementia from other types of dementias.
Instead, the difference between the two dementia groups was in the
direction opposite that predicted by Hachinski.
