Aims: Dementia is an important health concern for Māori and therefore it is essential to explore the extent and impact of dementia in this community. The 10/66 dementia protocol, a widely used research tool for measuring the prevalence of dementia, was developed to minimise cultural and educational bias in comparisons of dementia prevalence across different countries and/or cultures. The aims of this study are to (i) adapt the 10/66 dementia protocol for use in research within the Māori community and (ii) test the diagnostic accuracy of the adapted (ie, Māori-friendly) 10/66 dementia protocol against the reference standard of a clinical diagnosis of dementia (or no dementia).
Method: The sample included Māori aged 65 and over who had been assessed at a local memory service. Ten dementia cases and 10 controls were included. The sample was further enriched by the inclusion of 6 controls from a concurrent dementia-prevalence feasibility study in the local community. The Māori-friendly 10/66 dementia protocol was measured against the reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and Youden's Index were calculated.
Results: The Māori-friendly 10/66 dementia protocol had a sensitivity of 90.0% (95% CI 62.8-99.4), specificity of 93.8% (95% CI 75.3-99.6), positive predictive value of 90.0% (95% CI 62.8-99.4), negative predictive value of 93.8% (95% CI 75.3-99.6) and Youden's Index of 0.83.
Conclusions: Our study results provide preliminary evidence that the Māori-friendly 10/66 dementia protocol has adequate discriminatory abilities for the diagnosis of dementia. Our study also demonstrates that the Māori-friendly 10/66 dementia protocol has the potential to be used in a dementia-population-based study for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.