title: Reliability and validity of the Hierarchic Dementia Scale.
abstract: The aim of the study was to apply a method for measuring cognitive functioning in severely demented patients. Reliability and validity of the Hierarchic Dementia Scale (HDS) were tested. Fifty patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), multi-infarct dementia (MID), and dementia of mixed type (MIX) were studied. The interrater reliability was satisfactory as estimated by means of a kappa coefficient. The test retest reliability was rs = .96. The concurrent validity of the HDS, as measured by the correlation between the HDS and the MMSE, was rs = .86, and between the HDS and the CDR was rs = -.71. The results indicate that HDS is a useful and valid instrument for determination of the heterogeneous cognitive deficits in severe dementia.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rönnberg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ericsson
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results