Evaluation of dementia rating scales in Parkinson's disease dementia.
Disease-specific assessments are not currently available for patients with Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD). This study evaluated the criterion-related validity and test-retest reliability of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) in terms of sensitivity for differentiation between mild and moderate severity impairment in PDD. Six other dementia rating scales and cognitive tests were also examined. A total of 113 patients with PDD or Alzheimer disease were recruited into this 4-week, multicenter study, segregated into 2 severity groups based on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score. Mean ADAS-cog scores showed a statistically significant separation between mild and moderate severity patients in both dementias (P < .001). For the ADAS-cog, test-retest Spearman correlation coefficients were significant for each dementia type and severity. This study demonstrated the criterion-related validity and test-retest reliability for ADAS-cog in patients with PDD and strong correlations with MMSE. This supports the validity of previous results obtained with these measures in studies of patients with PDD.
Emory University School of Medicine, 101 Woodruff Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. philipdharvey1@cs.com
Philip D
PD
Harvey
Steven H
SH
Ferris
Jeffrey L
JL
Cummings
Keith A
KA
Wesnes
Chuanchieh
C
Hsu
Roger M
RM
Lane
Sibel
S
Tekin
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index