Background
: Because dementia tends to be underdiagnosed. Solomon PR developed a brief neurocognitive screening battery to identify Alzheimer's dementia. The 7-Minute Screen consists of four individual tests (orientation, memory, clock drawing, verbal fluency). It can be rapidly administered and it may be appropriately used in the primary care setting. We attempted to develop a screening tool of dementia based on the 7-Minute Screen at primary care setting in Korea.

Methods : We adapted the 7 Minute Screen to the Korean version of 7 Minute Screen(7 MSK). 7 MS-K and MMSE-K were administered to 61 elderly people who visited the Sungbuk Public Health Center. Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability were evaluated.

Results : The 7 MS-K has a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 92% for cutoff point of MMSE-K 23/24, Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability for the entire battery was very high(both r=1). Mean time of administration was 10 minutes.

Conclusion : 7 MS-K has a reasonable validity, reliability and can be administered in a brief period, and requires no clinical judgement and minimal training. It may be a useful tool for screening dementias in primary care setting.

Background
: Since recent economic crises (IMF) in Korea, the number of new homeless is increasing(that is, ‘IMF style homeless’). There are only few studies on the health problem of this uniquely formed population. We have attempted to estimate the problem of health behavior and health status of this population.

Methods : Some homeless who agreed to enter the asylum during the winter were taken for medical check-up in Sunbuk Community Health Center from November to December, 1998. The participants filled up a self-reported questionnaire and physical examination, laboratory test, and chest x-ray were performed.

Results : Among ‘IMF style homeless’, the prevalence of hypertension(30.9% in primary screening, 7.3% in secondary screening), diabetes mellitus(9.4% in primary screening, 3.5% in secondary screening), syphilis(7.3%), and hepatitis B antigen carrier(5.3%) was higher than among the general population. But we could not find statistical difference according to the duration of homelessness. We found higher smoking rate and higher alcohol drinking amount per week in homeless than in the general population. The amount of alcohol drinking per week larger among those who had been homeless for more than 3 months (p<0.01).

Conclusion : The prevalence of chronic diseases in homeless was higher than in the general population, but statistical difference according to the duration of homelessness could not be found. The longer the duration of homelessness, the larger the amount of alcohol drinkin was seeing.