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

1989/07/01 by David Loewenstein, D. A. Loewenstein, E. Mico Amigo +17 · 360 citations
Medicine · Psychology · #Alzheimer's disease research and treatments #Computer science #Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research #Disease #Gerontology #Medicine #Mental Health Treatment and Access #Miami #Mount #Pathology #Psychology

paper · doi:10.1093/geronj/44.4.p114

published in Journal of Gerontology 44(4), P114-P121 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 1989/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26

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.

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