Purpose of this study was to assess the potential added values of Subjective Memory Complaint Questionnaire (SMCQ) combined with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in developing a brief screening battery to improve the early detection rate of dementia in community setting.

Non-depressed community-dwelling Korean elderly aged 65 years and older who 945 randomly selected and 734 voluntarily involved were recruited. Dementia was diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria. Diagnostic ability of 10 point SMCQ subscale for everyday memory (SMCQ-E) for dementia was evaluated. Additive values of SMCQ-E combined with MMSE for dementia screening and the economic benefits of SMCQ-E and its combination with MMSE were also evaluated.

Overall area under the curve values of SMCQ-E were 0.605 (0.565–0.646) for nonrandom sample and 0.836 (0.783–0.890) for random sample. When SMCQ-E was combined with MMSE using ‘AND’ rule, accuracy, specificity, positive predictive values and positive likelihood ratio were increased than those of MMSE. While SMCQ-E was combined the MMSE using ‘OR’ rule, sensitivity and negative predictive values were increased and negative likelihood ratio were decreased than those of SMCQ-E and MMSE. When SMCQ-E and MMSE combined with AND rule, total cost for dementia screening was reduced to about 80% compared to MMSE single use model.

Results of this study showed that brief SMCQ-E and its combination with MMSE could be used to dementia screening with cost effective manner.