The measurement of everyday cognition: development and validation of a short form of the Everyday Cognition scales

Abstract

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.

Copyright © 2011 The Alzheimer's Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1. Receiver operating characteristic curve for the ECog-12

Receiver operating characteristic curve for the ECog-12 discriminating individuals with cognitive impairment (either MCI or dementia) from cognitively normal elderly.

Figure 2. Range of variability of ECog scores

Box plots of the total scores for ECog-39 (original version) and the ECog-12, showing the median, and upper and lower quartiles for each clinical group.