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GPCOG — General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition

The GPCOG is a short dementia screen developed in Australia for general practice. It has two steps: a brief cognitive test with the patient (about 4 minutes), then six questions for someone who knows the patient well (about 2 minutes), used when the first step is not clear-cut.

Why there is no online version here. The GPCOG is licensed to licensed medical practitioners for personal, internal, non-commercial use, and the licence does not allow providing it to third parties or copying or adapting it. AskMyGP is a public, advertising-supported site, so this page links to the official source instead.

Get the official GPCOG

Official GPCOG site Paper versions (24 languages) Our language directory

How it works

  1. Patient test, scored out of 9. A score of 9 suggests no significant impairment; 5 to 8 is uncertain and leads to step 2; 0 to 4 suggests cognitive impairment is likely.
  2. Informant interview, six questions. Used when the patient score is 5 to 8. An informant score of 0 to 3 with a patient score of 5 to 8 suggests impairment is likely; 4 to 6 suggests no significant impairment.

As published by the GPCOG authors. A screening result is not a diagnosis; the next steps rest with the treating clinician.

Evidence

The GPCOG authors report that it performs at least as well as the Mini-Mental State Examination while taking less time to administer. Published validations of translated versions are listed on the GPCOG site for some languages, for example Chinese (in China), Italian and French.

After a screen

The official site lists the standard investigations for memory loss and has a page for carers. See also our guide to cognitive screening in Australia.

Questions

What is the GPCOG?

The General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition is a brief dementia screening test developed in Australia for general practice (Brodaty et al., J Am Geriatr Soc 2002). It has a cognitive test of the patient and, when needed, a six-question interview with an informant.

How long does it take?

The GPCOG site gives about four minutes for the patient test and about two minutes for the informant interview.

Why can I not complete it on AskMyGP?

The GPCOG is licensed to licensed medical practitioners for personal, internal, non-commercial use, and the licence does not allow providing it to third parties or copying or adapting it. AskMyGP is a public, advertising-supported site, so this page links to the official source.

Is it available in other languages?

The official GPCOG site offers paper versions in 23 languages besides English, including separate Cantonese and Mandarin files. See our directory of translated screening questionnaires.

Related

Cognitive screening in Australia · Clinical Frailty Scale · 4AT delirium screen · Questionnaires in other languages

Sources (checked 3 October 2026)
  • GPCOG, More about the GPCOG and Downloads (UNSW / Dementia Collaborative Research Centre).
  • Non-commercial GPCOG Licence Agreement, Version 1.1, 13 March 2014 (linked from the GPCOG downloads page).
  • Brodaty H, et al. The GPCOG: a new screening test for dementia designed for general practice. J Am Geriatr Soc 2002;50(3):530–534.

General information, not medical advice. Check the GPCOG site for current terms.