The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG) is a brief screening test for cognitive impairment introduced by Brodaty et al. in 2002. It was specifically developed for the use in the primary care setting
The GPCOG consists of both a cognitive test of the patient and an informant interview to increase the predictive power. Both parts can be scored separately, together, or sequentially.
The cognitive test includes nine items: (1) time orientation, clock drawing: (2) numbering and spacing as well as (3) placing hands correctly, (4) awareness of a current news event and recall of a name and an address ( (5) first name, (6) last name, (7) number, (8) street, and (9) suburb). Each correct answer is valid one point leading to a maximum score of 9 (fewer points indicate more impairment). For further information on the scoring of the GPCOG please refer to the section “Scoring the GPCOG”. The informant interview asks six historical questions from an informant/next of kin who knows the patient well. He or she is asked to compare the patient’s current function with his/her performance a few years ago. Areas that are covered in the informant interview include memory, word finding difficulties, trouble managing finances, difficulties managing medication independently and needing assistance with transportation.
Administration of the GPCOG takes less than four minutes for the cognitive test and less than two minutes for the informant interview making it a very brief and easy to use screening tool