Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Utility of the Spanish version of the Everyday Cognition scale in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in an older cohort from the Argentina-ADNI

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

The performance of activities of daily living in elderly patients with memory disorders is directly related to living independently and to autonomy. Documenting and assessing functional capacity through detailed scales is important for both diagnostic and treatment recommendations. The Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale is a relatively new informant-rated measure of cognitive and functional abilities. In the present study, the discriminant validity of the ECog scale was evaluated in cognitively intact controls (CN) and in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from the Argentina-ADNI cohort to establish diagnostic accuracy. In addition, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of ECog against Functional Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) scale to discriminate among the three groups.

Methods

We evaluated 15 CN, 28 MCI, and 13 mild AD subjects. External, convergent and divergent validity and internal consistency were examined.

Results

The average total score on the ECog was significantly different across the three diagnostic syndromes (p < .05). The ECog was more sensitive than FAQ in discriminating between CN and MCI patients and between MCI and AD subjects. The ECog showed a strong correlation with FAQ, and moderate correlations with neuropsychological tests. Cronbach’s alpha was .98.

Conclusions

The ECog scale is an efficient instrument for the differentiation of individuals with mild dementia or MCI from normal older adults, with good accuracy and good correlation with other tests measuring daily and cognitive functions. Comparing against FAQ, ECog was more useful in assessing changes in functionality in MCI patients.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Albert MS, DeKosky ST, Dickson D et al (2011) The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement 7:270–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2011.03.008

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. McKhann GM, Knopman DS, Chertkow H et al (2011) The diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement 7:263–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2011.03.005

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Petersen RC (2004) Mild cognitive impairment as a diagnostic entity. J Intern Med 256:183–194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Winblad B, Palmer K, Kivipelto M, et al (2004) Mild cognitive impairment—beyond controversies, towards a consensus: report of the International Working Group on mild cognitive impairment. J Intern Med 256:240–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu-Seifert H, Siemers E, Price K, et al (2015) Cognitive impairment precedes and predicts functional impairment in mild Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis 47:205–214. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-142508

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Thomas KR, Marsiske M 2014 Verbal prompting to improve everyday cognition in MCI and unimpaired older adults. Neuropsychology 28:123–134. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000039

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Gold DA (2012) An examination of instrumental activities of daily living assessment in older adults and mild cognitive impairment. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 34:11–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803395.2011.614598

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Mahoney FI, Barthel DW (1986) Functional evaluation: the Barthel index. Md State Med J 14:61–65

    Google Scholar 

  9. Sheehan B 2012 Assessment scales in dementia. Ther Adv Neurol Disord 5:349–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756285612455733

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Lawton MP, Brody EM (1969) Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist 9:179–186

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Pfeffer RI, Kurosaki TT, Harrah CH Jr et al (1982) Measurement of functional activities in older adults in the community. J Gerontol 37:323–329

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Weintraub S, Salmon D, Mercaldo N et al (2009) The Alzheimer’s disease centers’ uniform data set (UDS): the neuropsychologic test battery. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 23:91–101. https://doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0b013e318191c7dd

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Teng E, Becker BW, Woo E et al (2010) Utility of the Functional Activities Questionnaire for distinguishing mild cognitive impairment from very mild Alzheimer disease. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 24:348–353. https://doi.org/10.1097/WAD.0b013e3181e2fc84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Blessed G, Tomlinson BE, Roth M (1968) The association between quantitative measures of dementia and of senile change in the cerebral grey matter of elderly subjects. Br J Psychiatry 114:797–811

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Gélinas I, Gauthier L, McIntyre M et al (1999) Development of a functional measure for persons with Alzheimer’s disease: the disability assessment for dementia. Am J Occup Ther 53:471–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hindmarch I, Lehfeld H, de Jongh P et al (1998) The Bayer activities of daily living scale (B-ADL). Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 9:20–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Farias ST, Mungas D, Reed BR, et al (2008) The measurement of everyday cognition (ECog): scale development and psychometric properties. Neuropsychology 22:531–544. https://doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.22.4.531

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Tomaszewski Farias S, Mungas D, Harvey DJ et al (2011) The measurement of everyday cognition: development and validation of a short form of the Everyday Cognition scales. Alzheimers Dement 7:593–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2011.02.007

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Russo MJ, Gustafson D, Vázquez S, et al (2014) Creation of the Argentina-Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative. Alzheimers Dement 10:S84-7

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Weiner MW, Aisen PS, Jack CR Jr, et al (2010) The Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative: progress report and future plans. Alzheimers Dement 6:202–211.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2010.03.007

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Petersen RC, Aisen PS, Beckett LA, et al (2010) Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI): clinical characterization. Neurology 74:201–209. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181cb3e25

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. McKhann G, Drachman D, Folstein M et al (1984) Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurology 34:939–944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Thomas KR, Edmonds EC, Delano-Wood L et al (2017) Longitudinal trajectories of informant-reported daily functioning in empirically defined subtypes of mild cognitive impairment. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 23:521–527. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617717000285

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Marshall GA, Zoller AS, Kelly KE, et al (2014) Everyday cognition scale items that best discriminate between and predict progression from clinically normal to mild cognitive impairment. Curr Alzheimer Res 11:853–861

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Farias ST, Park LQ, Harvey DJ et al (2013) Everyday cognition in older adults: associations with neuropsychological performance and structural brain imaging. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 19:430–441. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617712001609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Hsu JL, Hsu WC, Chang CC et al (2017) Everyday cognition scales are related to cognitive function in the early stage of probable Alzheimer’s disease and FDG-PET findings. Sci Rep 11:1719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01193-6 7) .

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Ahn IS, Kim JH, Kim S et al (2009) Impairment of instrumental activities of daily living in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Psychiatry Investig 6:180–184. https://doi.org/10.4306/pi.2009.6.3.180

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Cornelis E, Gorus E, Beyer I et al (2017) Early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia through basic and instrumental activities of daily living: development of a new evaluation tool. PLoS Med 14:e1002250. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002250

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. De Vriendt P, Mets T, Petrovic M et al (2015) Discriminative power of the advanced activities of daily living (a-ADL) tool in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment in an older population. Int Psychogeriatr 27:1419–1427. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610215000563

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Farias ST, Mungas D, Reed BR et al (2006) MCI is associated with deficits in everyday functioning. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord 20:217–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Perneczky R, Pohl C, Sorg C et al (2006) Complex activities of daily living in mild cognitive impairment: conceptual and diagnostic issues. Age Ageing 35:240–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Perneczky R, Pohl C, Sorg C et al (2006) Impairment of activities of daily living requiring memory or complex reasoning as part of the MCI syndrome. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 21:158–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Aretouli E, Brandt J (2010) Everyday functioning in mild cognitive impairment and its relationship with executive cognition. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 25:224–233. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.2325

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Burton CL, Strauss E, Bunce D et al (2009) Functional abilities in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Gerontology 55:570–581. https://doi.org/10.1159/000228918

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Pérès K, Chrysostome V, Fabrigoule C et al (2006) Restriction in complex activities of daily living in MCI: impact on outcome. Neurology 67:461–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Reppermund S, Sachdev PS, Crawford J et al (2011) The relationship of neuropsychological function to instrumental activities of daily living in mild cognitive impairment. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 26:843–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Rueda AD, Lau KM, Saito N et al (2015) Self-rated and informant-rated everyday function in comparison to objective markers of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement 11:1080–1089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2014.09.002

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Sánchez-Benavides G, Manero RM, Quiñones-Ubeda S et al (2009) Spanish version of the Bayer Activities of Daily Living scale in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer disease: discriminant and concurrent validity. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 27:572–578. https://doi.org/10.1159/000228259

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Paula JJ, Bertola L, Ávila RT et al (2014) Development, validity, and reliability of the General Activities of Daily Living scale: a multidimensional measure of activities of daily living for older people. Rev Bras Psiquiatr 36:143–152. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2012-1003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge members of the Argentina-Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative include Horacio Martinetto, Fernando Ventrice, Alejandra Amengual, Silvia Vazquez, Salvador Guinjoan, and Miguel Riudavets.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Aging and Memory of Neurological Research Institute (FLENI), Montañeses 2325, C1428AQK, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María Julieta Russo, G. Cohen, P. Chrem Mendez, J. Campos, M. E. Martín, M. F. Clarens, F. Tapajoz, P. Harris, G. Sevlever & R. F. Allegri

Authors
  1. María Julieta Russo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. Chrem Mendez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Campos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. E. Martín
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. M. F. Clarens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. F. Tapajoz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. P. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. G. Sevlever
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. R. F. Allegri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Julieta Russo.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of FLENI, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975).

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and/or their legally acceptable representative.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Russo, M.J., Cohen, G., Chrem Mendez, P. et al. Utility of the Spanish version of the Everyday Cognition scale in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in an older cohort from the Argentina-ADNI. Aging Clin Exp Res 30, 1167–1176 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0899-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-0899-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation