The "Protocole d'Examen Cognitif de la Personne Agée - Lausanne" (PECPA-L): a cognitive assessment tool for the French-speaking elderly in Switzerland.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this study was to validate and normalize, in the French-speaking population of Switzerland, an empirically derived structured cognitive assessment scale for the elderly.


METHODS
237 healthy elderly and 115 elderly with mild-to-moderate dementia as well as a preliminary sample of 27 subjects with MCI, all community-dwelling, were assessed using the PECPA-L for its validation and normalization using Crohnbach's alpha, rank comparisons, and AUROC measures.


RESULTS
The internal consistency of the PECPA-L was good (Crohnbach's Alpha=0.79). The discriminating power of the PECPA-L between the normal elderly and the mildly to moderately demented (AUROC=0.940) and those with MCI (AUROC=0.925) was high. Normal aging does not influence all cognitive domains equally; therefore, the subscores of the PECPA-L vary in their discriminating power between the normal and the demented elderly, with gnosis abilities having the least (AUROC=0.719) and delayed memory performance having the highest (AUROC=0.927) discriminating power. Normative data according to age and education are provided.


CONCLUSIONS
The PECPA-L is a highly appropriate tool for the detection and documentation of early cognitive impairment in the French-speaking population in Switzerland while accounting for age and education.
Consultation de la Mémoire, Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Age Avancé SUPAA, Département de Psychiatrie du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland. armin.von-gunten@chuv.ch
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A
von Gunten
J
J
Brull
A
A
Küng
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K
Simms
D
D
Taillefer
D
D
Geneau
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R
Duc
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013557:Switzerland