Cutoff score on the apathy evaluation scale in subjects with traumatic brain injury.
This cross-sectional study was designed to determine a cutoff score on the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) that predicts a clinician's designation of a subject with TBI as apathetic or not. Forty-five outpatients with TBI completed the AES-S, and 37 family members, friends, or significant others filled out the AES-I. Three clinicians prospectively gave their impressions of the presence or absence of apathy and retrospectively chose the degree of apathy on a 7-point subjective rating scale. The data was analysed by logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated. No cutoff score on the AES-S or AES-I was found to have reasonable sensitivity and specificity with respect to the ability to predict the clinician's designation of a subject as apathetic. The AES requires further study if it is to be used to measure apathy following TBI.
Glenn
Mel B
MB
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. mgenn@partners.org
Burke
David T
DT
O'Neil-Pirozzi
Therese
T
Goldstein
Richard
R
Jacob
Loyal
L
Kettell
Jennifer
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results