Milian 2012.

Study characteristics
Patient sampling	Participants selected retrospectively from all admitted patients to the Memory Clinic of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital of Tübingen between 2004 to 2009. Sampling frame is not described, but non‐consecutive sample included based on exclusion criteria.
Patient characteristics and setting	Sample composed of older adults with normal or corrected‐to‐normal visual acuity, "sufficient hearing ability", and a wide education range. Those described as having "severe handicap affecting the ability to perform the required tasks", mild cognitive impairment, or a depressive episode were excluded from analysis in the study. Also, patients with underlying neurological and psychiatric disorder unrelated to the diagnosis of dementia were excluded. Study was set in an inpatient memory clinic in Germany of individuals referred for evaluation of cognition.
Index tests	Study participants completed the clock‐drawing test and Mini‐Mental State Examination (which contains 3‐item recall) as part of their assessment. This was done without knowledge of reference standard diagnosis. However, the full index test (Mini‐Cog) was retrospectively derived, so the index test was not conducted contemporaneously as expected in the review question. Mini‐Cog results were scored in accordance with original scoring guidance from tool authors (Borson 2000).
Target condition and reference standard(s)	Clinical diagnosis of dementia based on DSM‐IV criteria, the ICD‐10 of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, and NINCDS‐ADRDA. Index test results (from Mini‐Cog) were not calculated at the time of reference standard diagnosis. Other neuropsychological tests results were available and informed reference standard diagnosis.
Flow and timing	Information to inform the index test and reference standard was collected contemporaneously as part of a diagnostic assessment. The items used to derive the index test were collected prior to completion of a reference standard diagnosis.
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?	No
		High	High
DOMAIN 2: Index Test All tests
Were the index test results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the reference standard?	Unclear
If a threshold was used, was it pre‐specified?	Yes
		Unclear	High
DOMAIN 3: Reference Standard
Is the reference standards likely to correctly classify the target condition?	Yes
Were the reference standard results interpreted without knowledge of the results of the index tests?	Unclear
		Low	Low
DOMAIN 4: Flow and Timing
Was there an appropriate interval between index test and reference standard?	Yes
Did all patients receive the same reference standard?	Yes
Were all patients included in the analysis?	Yes
		Low

DSM‐IV ‐ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition; ICD‐10 ‐ International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision; NINCDS‐ADRDA ‐ National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association