Psychological Medicine
- Psychological Medicine / Volume 21 / Issue 01 / February 1991, pp 225-236
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291700014811 (About DOI), Published online: 09 July 2009
Original Articles
SIDAM – A Structured Interview for the diagnosis of Dementia of the Alzheimer type, Multi-infarct dementia and dementias of other aetiology according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R
M. Zaudiga1 c1, J. Mittelhammera1, W. Hillera1, A. Paulsa1, C. Thoraa1, A. Morinigoa1 and W. Momboura1
a1 Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Psychiatric Out-patient Department, Munich, Germany.
Abstract
The SIDAM – a new instrument for the symptomatic diagnosis and measurement of dementia according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10 – is described. It comprises a brief structured clinical interview, a range of cognitive tests (e.g. including the Mini-Mental State (Folstein et al. 1975)) which constitute a short neuropsychological battery and a section for clinical judgement and third party information. All items rely on DSM-III-R and ICD-10 algorithms. The SIDAM has a high overall test–retest reliability which equally holds true on the diagnostic, criterion and item level. It is a brief (average of 28 min), practical and easily scored diagnostic instrument, which reliably separates subjects with DSM-III-R and ICD-10 dementia from those without such a disorder. Good congruence was found between SIDAM diagnoses and corresponding ICD-9 expert diagnoses. Furthermore, the SIDAM-Score (SISCO) allows a detailed measurement of even low levels of cognitive impairment and provides quantification of severity grading of cognitive dysfunction.
Correspondence:
c1 Address for correspondence: Dr M. Zaudig, Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 10, D-8000 Munich 40, Germany.
