ABC Dementia Scale: A Quick Assessment Tool for Determining Alzheimer's Disease Severity

Abstract

Background: In this study, we examined the construct validity, concurrent validity concerning other standard scales, intrarater reliability, and changes in scores at 12 weeks of the previously developed ABC Dementia Scale (ABC-DS), a novel assessment tool for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: Data were obtained from 312 patients diagnosed with either AD or mild cognitive impairment. The scores on the ABC-DS and standard scales were compared. Results: The 13 items of the ABC-DS are grouped into three domains, and the domain-level scores were highly correlated with the corresponding conventional scales. Statistically significant changes in assessment scores after 12 weeks were observed for the total ABC-DS scores. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the ABC-DS to have good validity and reliability, and its usefulness in busy clinical settings.