Devanand D P
Memory Disorders Clinic, New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY 10032, USA.
Int Psychogeriatr. 1997;9 Suppl 1:137-42; discussion 143-50. doi: 10.1017/s104161029700481x.
The Columbia University Scale for Psychopathology in Alzheimer's disease (CUSPAD) was developed as a short, semistructured instrument that can be administered by a clinician or trained lay interviewer to the relatives or caregivers of patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). The components of the scale focus on symptoms of psychosis, behavioral disturbance, and depression. A simple decision-tree approach is used to identify the presence of specific psychotic features and makes it possible for the instrument to be used by trained lay interviewers. Interrater reliability has been established. Use of this scale in a multicenter longitudinal study of patients with mild to moderate AD revealed that agitation was the most common and persistent symptom, depressed mood with vegetative signs was the least common and least persistent, and paranoid delusions and hallucinations showed moderate persistence over time. Besides its established psychometric properties, the strengths of the CUSPAD include its brevity, clarity in assessing psychotic symptoms, and ease of administration. These features make it useful for cross-sectional and longitudinal evaluation of the symptoms of psychopathology in AD. The main disadvantage is the lack of quantitative ratings of severity for many of the components, making it unsuitable for use in psychopharmacologic trials.
哥伦比亚大学阿尔茨海默病精神病理学量表（CUSPAD）是作为一种简短的半结构化工具开发的，临床医生或经过培训的非专业访谈者可对可能患有阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者的亲属或照料者进行施测。该量表的组成部分聚焦于精神病性症状、行为障碍和抑郁症状。采用一种简单的决策树方法来识别特定的精神病性特征，使得经过培训的非专业访谈者也能够使用该工具。已经建立了评分者间信度。在一项针对轻至中度AD患者的多中心纵向研究中使用该量表发现，激越为最常见且持续存在的症状，伴有躯体症状的抑郁情绪最不常见且持续时间最短，偏执妄想和幻觉随时间推移呈现中度持续性。除了已确定的心理测量学特性外，CUSPAD的优点还包括其简短性、评估精神病性症状时的清晰度以及易于施测。这些特性使其对于AD精神病理学症状的横断面和纵向评估很有用。主要缺点是许多组成部分缺乏严重程度的定量评分，这使其不适用于精神药理学试验。
