Dementia screening questionnaire for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

BACKGROUND

Many adults with Down's syndrome develop Alzheimer's dementia relatively early in their lives, but accurate clinical diagnosis remains difficult.

AIMS

To develop a user-friendly observer-rated dementia screening questionnaire with strong psychometric properties for adults with intellectual disabilities.

METHOD

We used qualitative methods to gather information from carers of people with Down's syndrome about the symptoms of dementia. This provided the items for the Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID), which we then tested for its psychometric properties.

RESULTS

The DSQIID was administered to carers of 193 adults with Down's syndrome, 117 of whom were examined by clinicians who confirmed a diagnosis of dementia for 49 according to modified ICD-10 criteria. We established that a total score of 20 provides maximum sensitivity (0.92) and optimum specificity (0.97) for screening. The DSQIID has sound internal consistency (alpha=0.91) for all its 53 items, and good test-retest and interrater reliability. We established a good construct validity by dividing the items into four factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The DSQIID is a valid, reliable and user-friendly observer-rated questionnaire for screening for dementia among adults with Down's syndrome.