Comparison of different clinical criteria (DSM-III, ADDTC, ICD-10, NINDS-AIREN, DSM-IV) for the diagnosis of vascular dementia. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The criteria for vascular dementia (VaD) include definition of the cognitive syndrome and the vascular cause. Different criteria for dementia identify different frequencies and clusters of patients. In addition, variation in defining the cause and etiology may have an effect. We compared different clinical criteria for VaD in series of patients with poststroke dementia.

METHODS: The study group comprised 107 patients fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III) definition for dementia from a cohort of consecutive patients with ischemic stroke who completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and MRI. The mean age (SD) of the patients was 71.4 (7.6) years. The definitions of vascular cause of VaD were those of the DSM-III (1980), Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centers (ADDTC; 1992), International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10; 1992), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences (NINDS-AIREN; 1993), and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; 1994).

RESULTS: The number of cases that could be classified as VaD according to the different criteria varied considerably: 36.4% (n=39) by DSM-III, 86.9% (n=93) by ADDTC, 32.7% (n=35) by NINDS-AIREN, 36.4% (n=39) by ICD-10, and 91.6% (n=98) by DSM-IV criteria. The concordance between DSM-III/ICD-10 was perfect (100%; kappa=1.0), between ICD-10/NINDS-AIREN and ADDTC/DSM-IV good to moderate (85.0% and 87. 3%; kappa=0.87 and 0.37, respectively), but otherwise poor between the other criteria. Only 31 patients fulfilled all the criteria for VaD applied. Major discriminating factors between the criteria were requirement of (1) focal neurological signs, (2) unequal distribution of deficits in higher cortical functions, and (3) evidence of relevant CVD based on brain imaging findings.

CONCLUSIONS: Current criteria of VaD identify different frequencies and clusters of patients and are not interchangeable. Optimally, prospective studies with clinicopathological correlation could identify new criteria. Meanwhile, focus on more homogeneous subtypes (eg, small-vessel subcortical VaD) and detailed neuroimaging criteria could improve the diagnostics.