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The measurement of everyday cognition: Development and validation of a short form of the Everyday Cognition scales
Author(s) -
Tomaszewski Farias Sarah,
Mungas Dan,
Harvey Danielle J.,
Simmons Amanda,
Reed Bruce R.,
DeCarli Charles
Publication year - 2011
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.2011.02.007
Subject(s) - cognition , psychology , everyday life , cognitive psychology , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience
Background This study describes the development and validation of a shortened version of the Everyday Cognition (ECog) scales [Tomaszewski Farias et al. Neuropsychology 2008;22:531–44], an informant‐rated questionnaire designed to detect cognitive and functional decline. Methods External, convergent, and divergent validities and internal consistency were examined. Data were derived from informant ratings of 907 participants who were either cognitively normal, had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or had dementia. Results Twelve items were included in the shortened version (ECog‐12). The ECog‐12 strongly correlated with established functional measures and neuropsychological scores, only weakly with age and education, and demonstrated high internal consistency. The ECog‐12 showed excellent discrimination between the dementia and normal groups (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve = 0.95, CI = 0.94–0.97), and showed promise in discriminating normal older adults from those with any cognitive impairment (i.e., MCI or dementia). Discrimination between the MCI and normal groups was poor. Conclusions The ECog‐12 shows promise as a clinical tool for assisting clinicians in identifying individuals with dementia.