OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the reliability of the Structured Interwiew for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Type Dementia, Multi-Infarct Dementia and Dementia of other Aetiology (SIDAM) Portuguese version; validated as a reliable instrument to be applied to patients with a presumed diagnosis of dementia or mild cognitive impairment1,2. METHODS: twenty elderly patients of our Service with a clinical diagnosis of dementia were interviewed simultaneously by the authors, utilizing the SIDAM's Portuguese version. The answers were noted down concomitantly, and then compared. The reliable evaluation of the diagnosis of the SIDAM's Portuguese version was based on Kappa's statistics (K). RESULTS: of the patients studied, ten were women; with an average age of 75.5 years. Nine were maried, two were not and nine widowers. They had attended school for about 5.3 years. The average score on the Mini Mental State was 16.8. As to their professional activities, 12 (60%) were manual workers, eight were not. Everyone had the diagnosis of dementia, being most of them, Alzheimer's Type. The concordance rate between ICD-10, DSM III-R and the SIDAM's questions showed a K > 0.87; and between the interviewers, rarely K < 0.87. CONCLUSION: K > or = 0.87 suggests that the Brazilian version of SIDAM can be considered a reliable instrument to be applied to outpatients with presumed diagnosis of dementia in Brazil.
Instrument; Reliability; Dementia; Elderly
