Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Que., Canada.
Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2010;29(3):265-74. doi: 10.1159/000289815. Epub 2010 Apr 6.
The AD-8 dementia screening questionnaire is a novel tool that allows clinicians to assess changes in cognitive function. This study examined psychometric properties of the test in French-speaking and English-speaking patients, and its impact on diagnostic practice in the geriatric assessment clinics of a university health centre. Data were extracted from the clinical database for all new patients screened for cognitive impairment 15 months before (historic control group) and 15 months after the introduction of the test (AD-8 group and concurrent control group). Analysis of differential item functioning revealed formal equivalence of the French- and English-language items, supporting the validity of the French version. Respondent type significantly influenced the total score on the AD-8. Concurrent validity with other cognitive screening tests was moderately high. Finally, among patients who did not present with pre-existing dementia, a higher proportion of dementia diagnoses was made in those administered the AD-8 relative to the concurrent control group. Implications for clinical use of the AD-8 are discussed.
AD-8 痴呆筛查问卷是一种新颖的工具，可让临床医生评估认知功能的变化。本研究在讲法语和英语的患者中检验了该测试的心理测量特性，以及它对大学保健中心老年评估诊所的诊断实践的影响。从临床数据库中提取了 15 个月前（历史对照组）和引入测试后 15 个月（AD-8 组和同期对照组）所有筛查认知障碍的新患者的数据。差异项目功能分析表明，法语和英语项目具有形式等效性，支持法语版的有效性。受访者类型对 AD-8 的总分有显著影响。与其他认知筛查测试的同时效度中等偏高。最后，在没有表现出预先存在的痴呆症的患者中，与同期对照组相比，接受 AD-8 测试的患者中痴呆症诊断的比例更高。讨论了 AD-8 在临床应用中的意义。
