Caratozzolo 2014.
| Study characteristics | |||
| Patient sampling | Inpatients hospitalised for acute stroke in an Italian hospital over an 8‐month period | ||
| Patient characteristics and setting | All inpatients admitted to the neurological clinic of an Italian hospital for a suspected acute cerebrovascular event were eligible for inclusion. Participants were those who had: experienced an acute stroke, a diagnosis made by neurologists based on clinical symptoms and neuroimaging, and the availability of a reliable caregiver for each patient. Individuals known to have a diagnosis of dementia were excluded as were those experiencing a transient Ischaemic attack. |
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| Index tests | IQCODE, 16‐item, Italian language | ||
| Target condition and reference standard(s) | Clinical diagnosis of dementia using DSM‐IV criteria, diagnosed by a neurologist. Assessment of reference standard not described in the abstract or original paper. In correspondence with authors, the assessment was conducted blinded to results of IQCODE. |
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| Flow and timing | A total of 222 patients were evaluated, 64 of whom were excluded as they fulfilled the exclusion criteria or did not agree to participate in the study. 158 were entered into the study, 37 of whom were diagnosed with having pre‐stroke dementia and excluded, leaving 121 participants in the study. At three months, 114 were assessed (five died during hospitalisation and two died during the follow‐up period), and at one year, 105 were assessed (nine died between three‐ and twelve‐month follow‐up). |
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| Comparative | |||
| Notes | |||
| Methodological quality | |||
| Item | Authors' judgement | Risk of bias | Applicability concerns |
| DOMAIN 1: Patient Selection | |||
| Was a consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled? | No | ||
| Was a case‐control design avoided? | Yes | ||
| Did the study avoid inappropriate exclusions? | Yes | ||
| Low | Low | ||
| DOMAIN 2: Index Test All tests | |||
| If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified? | Yes | ||
| Low | Low | ||
| DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard | |||
| Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition? | Yes | ||
| Low | Unclear | ||
| DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing | |||
| Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard? | Yes | ||
| Were all patients included in the analysis? | No | ||
| High | |||