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Severe Impairment Battery Language scale: A language‐assessment tool for Alzheimer's disease patients
Author(s) -
Ferris Steven,
Ihl Ralf,
Robert Philippe,
Winblad Bengt,
Gatz Gudrun,
Tennigkeit Frank,
Gauthier Serge
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2009.04.1236
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , ceiling effect , psychology , audiology , scale (ratio) , psychometrics , medicine , clinical psychology , pathology , physics , alternative medicine , quantum mechanics
Background Communication problems are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, but instruments to assess these symptoms are limited. Our objective was to create a new scale, based on the language subscale of the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), as a sensitive and reliable measurement of treatment effects on language performance. Methods All 24 items of the SIB language subscale were chosen for analysis. Baseline scores of 1320 moderate‐to‐severe patients (Mini‐Mental State Examination [MMSE] score, <15), from a combined AD database of four Memantine clinical trials (Study Codes: IE‐2101, MEM‐MD‐01, MEM‐MD‐02, and MRZ‐9605), were used for item reduction according to a standard principal components factor analysis. All items with loadings >0.5 on the identified factors were selected for inclusion in the new language scale. Correlations with existing AD scales were examined. Results The analysis indicated six factors, with 21 of 24 items showing loadings >0.5. The resulting 21‐item SIB Language (SIB‐L) scale exhibited high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.809). The maximal SIB‐L score was 41 points, with a measurement error of 3.7 points. The stratification of baseline SIB‐L scores (mean, 31.7; SD, 8.4) by MMSE scores (mean, 9.7; SD, 3.3) showed a high variance in SIB‐L scores. This confirms that patients with a low MMSE score can possess preserved language abilities. The SIB‐L scale did not exhibit substantial floor‐and‐ceiling effects. Conclusions The new SIB‐L is a fast (<15 minutes) and easily administered scale with favorable psychometric characteristics for assessing language impairment and treatment effects on the language performance of patients with moderate to severe AD.