Cited by 133Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAging, Health, and DisabilityCancer-related cognitive impairment studies

Early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia through basic and instrumental activities of daily living: Development of a new evaluation tool

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Cornelis, Elise, Gorus, Ellen, Beyer, Ingo, Bautmans, Ivan, De Vriendt, Patricia·2017·PLoS Medicine

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Assessment of activities of daily living (ADL) is paramount to determine impairment in everyday functioning and to ensure accurate early diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders. Unfortunately, most common ADL tools are limited in their use in a diagnostic process. This study developed a new evaluation by adopting the items of the Katz Index (basic [b-] ADL) and Lawton Scale (instrumental [i-] ADL), defining them with the terminology of the International Classification of Human Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), adding the scoring system of the ICF, and adding the possibility to identify underlying causes of limitations in ADL. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The construct validity, interrater reliability, and discriminative validity of this new evaluation were determined. From 2015 until 2016, older persons (65-93 y) with normal cognitive ageing (healthy comparison [HC]) (n = 79), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 73), and Alzheimer disease (AD) (n = 71) underwent a diagnostic procedure for neurocognitive disorders at the geriatric day hospital of the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (Brussels, Belgium). Additionally, the ICF-based evaluation for b- and i-ADL was carried out. A global disability index (DI), a cognitive DI (CDI), and a physical DI (PDI) were calculated. The i-ADL-CDI showed high accuracy and higher discriminative power than the Lawton Scale in differentiating HC and MCI (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.895, 95% CI .840-.950, p = .002), MCI and AD (AUC = 0.805, 95% CI .805-.734, p = .010), and HC and AD (AUC = 0.990, 95% CI .978-1.000, p < .001). The b-ADL-DI showed significantly better discriminative accuracy than the Katz Index in differentiating HC and AD (AUC = 0.828, 95% CI .759-.897, p = .039). This study was conducted in a clinically relevant sample. However, heterogeneity between HC, MCI, and AD and the use of different methods of reporting ADL might limit this study. CONCLUSIONS: This evaluation of b- and i-ADL can contribute to the diagnostic differentiation between cognitively healthy ageing and neurocognitive disorders in older age. This evaluation provides more clarity and nuance in assessing everyday functioning by using an ICF-based terminology and scoring system. Also, the possibility to take underlying causes of limitations into account seems to be valuable since it is crucial to determine the extent to which cognitive decline is responsible for functional impairment in diagnosing neurocognitive disorders. Though further prospective validation is still required, the i-ADL-CDI might be useful in clinical practice since it identifies impairment in i-ADL exclusively because of cognitive limitations.

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  • People who live alone and are unable to complete household tasks due to poor cognitive function or health are unlikely to manage independently at home and may be more likely to move into a care home.

    “People who live alone and are unable to complete household tasks due to poor cognitive function or health are unlikely to manage independently at home and may be more likely to move into a care home (Cornelis, Gorus, Beyer, Bautmans, & De Vriendt, 2017;Wang et al., 2015).”

    From Living alone and cognitive function in later life (2019) · cites this paper as Cornelis et al., 2017

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  1. [51]Jones KB. Assessment of motor and process skills Development, standardization, and administration manual, volume 1, edition 7 Colorado: Fort Collins Three Star Press 2010.
  2. [60]Hancock P, Larner AJ. The diagnosis of dementia: diagnostic accuracy of an instrument measuring activities of daily living in a clinic-based population. Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders. 2007; 23(3): 133– 9. 10.1159/000097994 17170525 · DOI
  3. [91]Njegovan V, Hing MM, Mitchell SL, Molnar FJ. The hierarchy of functional loss associated with cognitive decline in older persons. The journals of gerontology Series A Biological sciences and Medical sciences. 2001; 56(10): M638– 43. 11584037

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Authors
Cornelis, E., Gorus, E., Beyer, I., Bautmans, I., & De Vriendt, P.
Affiliations
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
Corresponding author
Cornelis, Elise
Venue
PLoS Medicine
Published
2017-03-14
Volume
14
Issue
3
Pages
e1002250
ISSN
  • 1549-1277 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-1676
OpenAlex
W2597330318
Cited by
133
References
115
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 4
FWCI
9.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wetenschappelijk Fonds Willy Gepts, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Belgium
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Cancer-related cognitive impairment studies
Keywords
mild cognitive impairment, mild dementia, Alzheimer's disease, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, basic activities of daily living, disability index, early diagnosis, functional assessment, older adults, diagnostic accuracy, Katz Index, Lawton scale, construct validity, inter-rater reliability, discriminative validity, cognitive aging, geriatric day hospital
MeSH terms
Activities of Daily Living, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Belgium, Dementia, Female, Humans, Male, Geriatric Assessment, Early Diagnosis, Cognitive Dysfunction

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