Camdex- R: The Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly, Revised

From our regular book review column.

The Camdex is a standardized structured interview for diagnosing common mental disorders of late life. It incorporates elements of the present state with past history and family history, emphasizing the cognitive examination. Physical examination, laboratory investigations, medication review, and clinical observations are part of the overall evaluation program. First published in 1988, this spiral-bound manual was created by Sir Martin Roth and colleagues from Cambridge University and derived from an article published in 1986 in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The Camdex system provides high interrater reliability, with high sensitivity and specificity of the cognitive exam. It has been well standardized and validated, and the present revised version incorporates a decade of experience.