Valid telephone assessment for cognitive impairment is lacking in stroke settings. We investigated the feasibility and validity of the 5-minute National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) protocol and six-item screener (SIS) in stroke patients by telephone administration.

Patients were assessed with a comprehensive face-to-face neuropsychological assessment after three months of stroke onset, followed by the 5-minute NINDS-CSN protocol (30 points) and SIS (6 points) at least one month later. Administration time was recorded for the telephone tests. Validity of both tests was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC).

Eighty-nine patients (age, 62.9 ± 8.6 years; male, 65.2%) received a face-to-face assessment and 80 completed telephone tests. The time required to administer the 5-minute NINDS-CSN protocol was 4.3 ± 1.0 minutes, and SIS 57.3 ± 17.7 seconds. Validity of detecting cognitive impairment as assessed by AUC was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.78–0.94) for 5-minute NINDS-CSN protocol, and 0.74 (95% CI, 0.63–0.85) for SIS. Sensitivity and specificity were optimal with the cut-off values of 23.5/24 for the 5-minute NINDS-CSN protocol, and 4/5 for SIS.

Both the telephone-based 5-minute NINDS-CSN protocol and SIS were feasible and valid in screening cognitive impairment after stroke in China.