Subscale validity of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale.
The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), a widely used dementia screening instrument, generates five subscale scores in the areas of Attention (ATT), Initiation-Perseveration (IP), Construction (CN), Conceptualization (CON), and Memory (MEM). The present study sought to determine the criterion validity of the DRS subscales in a sample of 50 patients with Alzheimer's disease (25 with mild and 25 with moderate dementia). Subject performance on the five DRS subscales was correlated with performance on five well-validated neuropsychological criterion measures using Pearson r and stepwise regression. On a univariate level, each DRS subscale correlated most strongly with its assigned neuropsychological criterion measure. On a multivariate level, each DRS subscale emerged as the Step 1 predictor of its assigned criterion measure, with the exception of DRS CN, which was the Step 2 predictor. The results suggested that overall the DRS subscales are valid measures of their respective constructs and have value for both clinical and research purposes in mild and moderate dementia.
Department of Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-0007, USA.
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Marson
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Dymek
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Duke
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Harrell