Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Abstract

Validation of an Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Battery in Asian Participants With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease

Joan HQ Shen, Qi Shen, Holly Yu, Jin-Shei Lai, Jennifer L Beaumont, Zhenxin Zhang, Huali Wang, Seong Yoon Kim, Christopher Chen, Timothy Kwok, Shuu-Jiun Wang, Dong Young Lee, John Harrison and Jeffrey Cummings

Background: There is a lack of validated tools for assessing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) across Asia. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADASCog), Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD), and Neuropsychological Test Battery (NTB) in Asian participants. Methods: Participants with mild to moderate AD (n=251) and healthy controls (n=51) from Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea completed selected instruments at several time points.  Results: Test-retest reliability was better than 0.70 for all tests. AD participants performed significantly poorly than controls on every score. Within the AD group, greater disease severity corresponded to significantly poorer performance. The disease in the AD group worsened over time and there was a trend for worse performance in AD compared to healthy controls over time. Conclusions: The ADAS-Cog, DAD, and NTB are reliable, valid, and responsive measures in this population and could be used for clinical trials across Asian countries/regions.