Introduction. The clock drawing test (PDR-M) - Manos ́ version - is a brief cognitive assessment tool for dementia detection. Objectives. To assess the validity and reliability of the PDR-M to discriminate between patients with dementia and healthy control subjects. Materials and methods. We evaluated subjects over 65 years of age, excluding those with severe concomitant diseases and those with hearing or visual impairment. We obtained demographic data and performed the PDR-M and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Subjects of the dementia group were also submitted to clinical, laboratory and neuropsychological evaluations as well as computed tomography scanning. Sensitivity and specifcity of the PDR-M were calculated as well as the area under the ROC curve. Results. We evaluated 210 individuals, 103 with confrmed diagnosis of dementia and 107 healthy controls with similar age and sex in both groups, but a higher educational level in the control group. Setting a cutoff point of 7, a sensitivity of 99.0% and a specifcity of 83.5% were found. When comparing the areas under the ROC curves of the PDR-M and MMSE we found no statistically signifcant difference. Conclusions. The PDR-M is a brief and reliable instrument for the detection of dementia in the urban population of Lima, Peru.