title: Toward the processing speed theory of activities of daily living in healthy aging: normative data of the Functional Activities Questionnaire.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to describe an instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) measure: Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), which is often used in clinical settings as a self- or informant-based measure of IADL. However, the FAQ's relationship with age or education in healthy aging has not been investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  FAQ and a neuropsychological battery were administered to old and very old Czech adults (n = 540). Participants met strict inclusion criteria for the absence of any active or past neurodegenerative disorders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FAQ is significantly dependent on age and education, but not gender. Younger subjects and those with higher education have the lowest scores in the FAQ and show a higher degree of functional independence. FAQ moderately correlates with speed of processing, visual-perceptual and executive functions measures (Trail Making Tests, Stroop Test) and depressive symptoms, but not with episodic memory (WMS-III logical memory). We present normative percentile values for different age groups from 60 to 96 years of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study shows conclusively that IADL measures, such as FAQ, should not be used without appropriate normative data, especially in very old adults. Thus, it has the ability to differentiate functional dependence due to age-related decline from neurodegenerative disease.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic. ondrej.bezdicek@gmail.com.|Department of Neurology and Centre of Clinical Neuroscience, First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Charles University in Prague, Kateřinská 30, 128 21, Praha 2, Czech Republic. ondrej.bezdicek@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bezdicek
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stepankova
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.|Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, Praha 5, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martinec Novakova
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Miloslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kopecek
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D018153:Czech Republic; D003863:Depression; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Activities of daily living; Instrumental activities of daily living; Normal aging; Normative data; Questionnaire