Background: Cognitive impairment should be accurately assessed in the elderly. The presence of a valid Arabic version of the SLUMS Examination would allow better diagnosis of cognitive impairment as it considers different educational levels prevalent in the Egyptian community. Aim: To assess the reliability and validity of the Arabic version of Saint-Louis-University-Mental-Status (SLUMS) Examination for cognitive impairment and to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment among community dwelling Egyptian older adults. Materials and methods: This study was conducted in two phases: phase I, during which reliability and validity of the Arabic version of SLUMS Examination was assessed; then phase II, where the prevalence of cognitive impairment among community dwelling Egyptian elders was estimated using the Arabic version of SLUMS Examination. Results: The phase I of the study was conducted on 90 elderly group for testing validity and reliability of the SLUMS tool. A statistically significant agreement was evident between SLUMS Examination and Mini Mental State Examination MMSE (Kappa 0. 826, P <0.001). Sensitivity of SLUMS Examination was 94% (31/33) while Specificity was 96% (55/57). SLUMS Examination was also found to be reliable by test-retest. (McNemar P>0.05, Kappa 0.806 P<0.001). The internal consistency of the Arabic version of SLUMS Examination on the main items of cognitive function showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.723 with a significant item-to-item and item-to-total correlation. The phase II of the study was conducted on 284 elderly. 51.4% of them demonstrated mild neuro-cognitive disorder and 5.6% were demented. Age showed a significant relationship with cognitive function level (P<0.001). Education level, employment and depression showed significant differences between elders with normal cognitive function and the demented (P<0.001, P=0.003 and P <0.001 respectively). Conclusion: The Arabic version of SLUMS-Examination was found to be a valid and reliable screening tool for cognitive impairment in elderly. Almost half of the community dwelling Egyptian elderly showed mild neurocognitive disorder and a minority were demented. Older age, less education, unemployment and evidence of depression were found to be significantly associated with cognitive impairment. The Arabic version of SLUMS-Examination should be included in the routine assessment of cognitive impairment in Egyptian elders.