Lawton's Instrumental Activities of Daily Living for Greek-Speaking Adults with Cognitive Impairment: A Psychometric Evaluation Study with Additional Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis

Dionysios Tafiadis; Vassiliki Siafaka; Louiza Voniati; Alexandra Prentza; Angelos Papadopoulos; Nafsika Ziavra; Spyridon Konitsiotis

doi:10.3390/brainsci13071093

Lawton's Instrumental Activities of Daily Living for Greek-Speaking Adults with Cognitive Impairment: A Psychometric Evaluation Study with Additional Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis

Brain Sci. 2023 Jul 19;13(7):1093. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13071093.

Authors

Dionysios Tafiadis¹, Vassiliki Siafaka¹, Louiza Voniati², Alexandra Prentza³, Angelos Papadopoulos⁴, Nafsika Ziavra¹, Spyridon Konitsiotis⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Speech & Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, GR45500 Ioannina, Greece.
² Department of Health Sciences, Speech and Language Therapy, European University Cyprus, 22006 Nicosia, Cyprus.
³ Department of Linguistics, School of Philology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ioannina, GR45500 Ioannina, Greece.
⁴ Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, GR45500 Ioannina, Greece.

Abstract

One of the components of a dementia diagnosis is the assessment of functional abilities. These abilities are measured via screeners, such as the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale. The IADL scale is a valid tool that has been adapted in many languages. This study aimed to provide a cut-off point and validate the Greek version of the IADL scale in populations with cognitive impairment. IADL data were collected from 132 individuals: 24 PD patients, 24 Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) patients, and 24 AD patients. The remaining 60 participants were cognitive healthy adults (CHAs). The CHA group and the PD group served as the cognitively unimpaired group (CUG), while the PDD and AD groups served as the cognitively impaired group (CIG). Additionally, the MMSE, the AMTS, the Clock Drawing Test CDT, the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD), the NPI, and the GDS-15 were administered to the participants. Statistically significant differences in the IADL scores were exhibited between all subgroups. The IADL scale showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.890). A threshold equal to 6.00 (AUC = 0.888, p < 0.001) was estimated between the CUG and the CIG. Significant positive correlations were observed between IADL and MMSE (r = 0.764, p < 0.001), IADL and AMTS (r = 0.724, p < 0.001), IADL and ABCD (r = 0.702, p < 0.001), and IADL and CDT (r = 0.627, p < 0.001) results. Given the obtained results, the IADL scale is a valid tool for clinical use with high reliability and sensitivity. Also, the IADL scale is a valuable instrument for screening functional abilities associated with cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; IADL; Parkinson’s disease; ROC curve; dementia; quality of life.

Grants and funding

The publication of the article in OA mode was partially financially supported by HEAL-Link. This research received no other specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.