Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale (MDAS)

Description
The MDAS is a 10 item scale used to assess for the presence and severity of delirium. Items are rated on a four-point scale from 0 (none) to 3 (severe) depending on the level of impairment, yielding a maximum score of 30. A score of 13 or more is strongly suggestive of a diagnosis of delirium.

Validity
The MDAS has been shown to have high inter-rater reliability (0.92), internal consistency (0.91) and correlates highly with other commonly used tools such as the MMSE (Spearman rank correlation 0.91, p<0.0001) and the DRS (Spearman rank 0.88, p<0.0001).

The MDAS reliably differentiates between delirium and other common cognitive impairment disorders.

Interpretation
A score of 13 or more has been recommended for a diagnosis of delirium, with a sensitivity of 70.59 % and a specificity of 93.75 %. The higher the score, the more severe the delirium.

Developer
Breitbart W et al.

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