A scale used to quantify the severity of symptoms of dementia. A patient’s cognitive and functional performance is assessed in 6 areas including memory, orientation, judgment and problem solving, community affairs, home and hobbies, and personal care. Scores in each of these areas are combined to obtain a composite score ranging from 0 (no dementia) to 3 (severe dementia). For more information, see the following article for the scale: Hughes CP, Berg L, Danziger WL, Coben LA, Martin RL. A new clinical scale for the staging of dementia. Br J Psychiatr. 1982;140:566-572. [PMID: 7104545]