The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (Modified): Relation with a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment

The modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) is a widely used screening instrument for (Alzheimer's) dementia. Psychometric evaluation of the TICS-m is limited. This study examined the relation between the TICS-m and a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment in older persons (n = 243) without cognitive deficits. The TICS-m total score correlated with multiple cognitive domains (range r = .22-.49). Factor analysis of the TICS-m items yielded four interpretable factors: "verbal memory," "orientation/mental tracking," "language/reasoning," and "attention/working memory," which also showed (modest) correlations with the neuropsychological assessment (r = .02-.48). The TICS-m appears to reflect a "general cognitive ability" rather than, for example, memory functioning alone.