Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the 3-word recall, name and address recall and famous person tasks on cognitively healthy elderly, elderly people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and patients with early dementia.
Materials and Methods: The participants comprised 65 normal controls (NC), 45 people with MCI, and 52 people with early dementia. All participants completed 3-word recall, name and address recall and famous person tasks.
Results: The three-word recall, name and address recall and famous person tasks demonstrated good diagnostic accuracy in the detection of dementia. However, the 3-word recall and famous person tasks were not able to discriminate between NC and MCI groups. The optical cut-off score for 3-word recall differentiating NC from dementia was <2 words, giving a sensitivity of 86.5% and specificity of 92.3%. For famous person task, the cut-off was <3 points, giving a sensitivity and specificity of 78.8% and 80.0%, respectively. Using the cut-off of <3 points, name and address recall had the highest accuracy with a sensitivity of 94.2% and specificity of 93.8%.
Conclusion: All three memory tests are sensitive bedside assessments for the screening of dementia. The present study suggests the optimal cut-off score and provides diagnostic accuracy concerning each task.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Memory, Mental status tests, Mild cognitive impairment, Neuropsychologic tests