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Journal of Gerontology 1989 44(4):P114-P121; doi:10.1093/geronj/44.4.P114
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© 1989 The Gerontological Society of America

A New Scale for the Assessment of Functional Status in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders

David A. Loewenstein1,2, Ellen Amigo1, Ranjan Duara1,2, Andrew Guterman1,2, Deborah Hurwitz1, Nancy Berkowitz1, Frances Wilkie2, Gloria Weinberg1, Barbara Black1, Betsy Gittelman3 and Carl Eisdorfer1,2

1 Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center Miami Beach
2 University of Miami School of Medicine
3 Department of Social Work, Mount Sinai Medical Center


  Abstract

Assessment of the functional competencies of patients with dementia is typically conducted in an indirect manner. Psychological tests of cognition or descriptions by relatives or other caregivers are often used to make judgments as to the patient's ability to adapt to the demands of the environment. However, these methods have built-in biases. The need for direct assessment of functional status was addressed by developing a standardized operational procedure to examine areas of functional competence which may become impaired in Alzheimer's disease and other related memory disorders. The resulting instrument has high interrater and test-retest reliabilities. Convergent validity is evidenced by significant correlations between the scale and established measures of functional status. Patients with Alzheimer's disease exhibited deficits in functional capacities relative to age-equivalent normal controls and to elderly patients with a primary major depression.

Received for publication February 12, 1988. Accepted for publication December 6, 1988.


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