The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR®) is an imperfect dementia staging system that may not apply to all dementing illnesses as it was developed for symptomatic Alzheimer disease (AD dementia). The CDR Scoring Algorithm is based on areas of cognitive and functional deficit that characterize dementing illnesses. The algorithm is not intended to reflect all possible scoring iterations. Some unusual box score combinations may result in the algorithm generating an incorrect Global CDR Score. Such scoring circumstances (e.g., when the Memory box is 0 but the Personal Care box is 3, based on cognitive loss) are highly unlikely to be present in a real-world setting.
The linked page below, hosted by NACC, allows the user to input CDR® Box Scores and receive a Global CDR® Score.
Questions regarding how the Global CDR is calculated can be addressed to Dr. John C. Morris at jcmorris@wustl.edu.
Questions regarding licensing the algorithm code should be directed to CDR@wustl.edu with the Office of Technology/Tech Transfer at Washington University.