title: Validation of the Brazilian version of the apathy inventory.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Apathy is a frequent neuropsychiatric condition in neurodegenerative disorders, depression, and often in mild cognitive impairment. The Apathy Inventory (AI) is a reliable instrument for improving the accuracy of the apathy diagnosis. The aim was to establish the validity of the Apathy Inventory for the Brazilian community.
  
  
  METHODS
  We established the concurrent validity, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and the sensitivity and specificity of AI for the Brazilian community in a cohort of 175 individuals with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy controls. The three dimensions of the AI (emotional blunting, lack of initiative, and lack of interest) were compared with the Apathy domain of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Clinician rating scale (NPI-C) in an independent scheme.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses demonstrated high correlation coefficients in AI's individual dimensions and in AI-total score (F = 0.965). Concerning the NPI-C/Apathy domain, intra-class correlation coefficients were also high (F = 0.977). Concurrent validity was high according to both raters on AI dimensions × NPI-C/Apathy domain and regarding total score (rater 1: rho = 0.956 vs. rater 2: rho = 0.970). The internal consistency of the AI was also high concerning the AI's individual dimensions and total score (rater 1: 0.945 vs. rater 2: 0.958).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed high internal consistency, high concurrent validity, and inter-rater reliability of the Apathy Inventory. In addition, we found that its sensitivity and specificity were high. We suggest that the Brazilian version of the Apathy Inventory would be an appropriate instrument to identify the apathy syndrome in Brazilian patients.
authors.affiliation: UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista, Biosciences Institute, Campus of Rio Claro, Sao Paulo, Brazil. fstella@rc.unesp.br
authors.forename: Florindo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stella
authors.forename: Larissa Pires
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: de Andrade
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garuffi
authors.forename: Thays Martins
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Vital
authors.forename: Salma Stephany Soleman
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruocco
authors.forename: Elisandra Villela Gasparetto
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Sé
authors.forename: Margarete
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Tânia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Philippe H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Robert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D057565:Apathy; D001938:Brazil; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Parkinson's disease; apathy; depression; mild cognitive impairment; scales