Woodard J L, Auchus A P, Godsall R E, Green R C
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 1998 Nov;53(6):P370-4. doi: 10.1093/geronb/53b.6.p370.
The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) is a commonly used cognitive measure designed to assess the course of decline in progressive dementias. However, little information is available about possible systematic racial bias on the items presented in this test. We investigated race as a potential source of test bias and differential item functioning in 40 pairs of African American and Caucasian dementia patients (N = 80), matched on age, education, and gender. Principal component analysis revealed similar patterns and magnitudes across component loadings for each racial group, indicating no clear evidence of test bias on account of race. Results of an item analysis of the MDRS revealed differential item functioning across groups on only 4 of 36 items, which may potentially be dropped to produce a modified MDRS that may be less sensitive to cultural factors. Given the absence of test bias because of race, the observed racial differences on the total MDRS score are most likely associated with group differences in dementia severity. We conclude that the MDRS shows no appreciable evidence of test bias and minimal differential item functioning (item bias) because of race, suggesting that the MDRS may be used in both African American and Caucasian dementia patients to assess dementia severity.
马蒂斯痴呆评定量表（MDRS）是一种常用的认知测量工具，旨在评估进行性痴呆的衰退过程。然而，关于该测试中呈现的项目可能存在的系统性种族偏差，目前几乎没有相关信息。我们调查了种族作为测试偏差和差异项目功能的潜在来源，研究对象为40对非裔美国人和白人痴呆患者（N = 80），这些患者在年龄、教育程度和性别上相匹配。主成分分析显示，每个种族组的成分载荷模式和大小相似，这表明没有明显证据表明因种族而存在测试偏差。对MDRS的项目分析结果显示，在36个项目中，只有4个项目存在组间差异项目功能，这些项目可能会被删除，以生成一个对文化因素不太敏感的改良版MDRS。由于不存在因种族导致的测试偏差，MDRS总分上观察到的种族差异很可能与痴呆严重程度的组间差异有关。我们得出结论，MDRS没有明显的测试偏差证据，且因种族导致的差异项目功能（项目偏差）最小，这表明MDRS可用于非裔美国人和白人痴呆患者来评估痴呆严重程度。
