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.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. mgenn@partners.org
Mel B
MB
Glenn
David T
DT
Burke
Therese
T
O'Neil-Pirozzi
Richard
R
Goldstein
Loyal
L
Jacob
Jennifer
J
Kettell
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