The Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R): A brief cognitive test battery for dementia screening

There is a clear need for brief, but sensitive and specific, cognitive screening instruments as evidenced by the popularity of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE). OBJECTIVES: We aimed to validate an improved revision (the ACE-R) which incorporates five sub-domain scores (orientation/attention, memory, verbal fluency, language and visuo-spatial). METHODS: Standard tests for evaluating dementia screening tests were applied. A total of 241 subjects participated in this study (Alzheimer's disease=67, frontotemporal dementia=55, dementia of Lewy Bodies=20; mild cognitive impairment-MCI=36; controls=63). RESULTS: Reliability of the ACE-R was very good (alpha coefficient=0.8). Correlation with the Clinical Dementia Scale was significant (r=-0.321, p