title: Sahlgrenska Academy Self-reported Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire (SASCI-Q)--a research tool discriminating between subjectively cognitively impaired patients and healthy controls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) is a potential early marker for actual cognitive decline. The cognitive manifestation of the SCI stage is, however, largely unknown. Self-report instruments developed especially for use in the SCI population are lacking, and many SCI studies have not excluded mild cognitive impairment and dementia. We developed and tested a patient-based questionnaire on everyday cognitive function aiming to discriminate between patients with subjective, but not objective, cognitive impairment and healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Individuals experiencing cognitive impairment were interviewed to generate a pool of items. After condensing to 97 items, we tested the questionnaire in 93 SCI patients seeking care at a memory clinic (age M = 64.5 years, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) M = 29.0) and 50 healthy controls (age M = 69.6 years, MMSE M = 29.3). Further item reduction was conducted to maximize that remaining items would discriminate between SCI patients and controls, using a conservative α level and requiring medium to high effect sizes. Internal consistency reliability and convergent validity was subsequently examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-five items discriminated between the groups, resulting in the Sahlgrenska Academy Self-reported Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire (SASCI-Q). Internal consistency was high and correlations to a single question on memory functioning were of medium to large sizes. Most remaining items were related to the memory domain.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SASCI-Q discriminates between SCI patients and healthy controls and demonstrates satisfying psychometric properties. The instrument provides a research method for examining SCI and forms a foundation for future examining which SCI symptoms predict objective cognitive decline. The cognitive manifestation of the SCI stage is mostly related to experiences of memory deficits.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. marie.eckerstrom@neuro.gu.se
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eckerström
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skoogh
authors.forename: Sindre
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rolstad
authors.forename: Mattias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Göthlin
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steineck
authors.forename: Boo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wallin
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires