Psychometric Properties of an Abbreviated Version of the Apathy Evaluation Scale for Parkinson Disease (AES-12PD)

Yuliya Stankevich; Ulrike Lueken; Monika Balzer-Geldsetzer; Richard Dodel; Susanne Gräber-Sultan; Daniela Berg; Inga Liepelt-Scarfone; Rüdiger Hilker-Roggendorf; Elke Kalbe; Oliver Kaut; Brit Mollenhauer; Kathrin Reetz; Eva Schäffer; Nele Schmidt; Jörg B Schulz; Annika Spottke; Karsten Witt; Katharina Linse; Alexander Storch; Oliver Riedel

doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2018.06.012

Psychometric Properties of an Abbreviated Version of the Apathy Evaluation Scale for Parkinson Disease (AES-12PD)

Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Oct;26(10):1079-1090. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2018.06.012. Epub 2018 Jun 30.

Authors

Yuliya Stankevich¹, Ulrike Lueken², Monika Balzer-Geldsetzer³, Richard Dodel³, Susanne Gräber-Sultan⁴, Daniela Berg⁵, Inga Liepelt-Scarfone⁴, Rüdiger Hilker-Roggendorf⁶, Elke Kalbe⁷, Oliver Kaut⁸, Brit Mollenhauer⁹, Kathrin Reetz¹⁰, Eva Schäffer⁵, Nele Schmidt⁵, Jörg B Schulz¹⁰, Annika Spottke⁸, Karsten Witt¹¹, Katharina Linse¹², Alexander Storch¹³, Oliver Riedel¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: yuliya.stankevich@tu-dresden.de.
² Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin.
³ Department of Neurology, Phillips University Marburg, Marburg, Germany; Chair of Geriatrics, University Hospital Essen, Geriatric Centre Haus Berge, Contilia GmbH, Essen, Germany.
⁴ Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Universität Tübingen, and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Department of Neurology, University Hospital Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt.
⁷ Department of Medical Psychology | Neuropsychology and Gender Studies & Center for Neuropsychological Diagnostics and Intervention (CeNDI), University Hospital Cologne, Cologne.
⁸ Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bonn, and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
⁹ Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Kassel, Germany; Klinik für Neurologie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; JARA-BRAIN Institute Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
¹² Division of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Department of Neurology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
¹³ Department of Neurology, University of Rostock, and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Rostock/Greifswald, Rostock, Germany.
¹⁴ Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS GmbH, Bremen, Germany.

PMID: 30082208
DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2018.06.012

Abstract

Background: Apathy is a frequent symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), substantially aggravating the course of PD. Regarding the accumulating evidence of the key role of apathy in PD, time-efficient assessments are useful for fostering progress in research and treatment. The Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) is widely used for the assessment of apathy across different nosologies.

Objective: To facilitate the application of the AES in PD, we reduced the AES to two-thirds its length and validated this abbreviated version.

Design: Data sets of 339 PD patients of the DEMPARK/LANDSCAPE study without dementia and depression were randomly split into two samples. Data of sample 1 were used to develop a brief version of the AES (AES-12PD). A cross-validation was conducted in sample 2 and in a subsample of 42 PD patients with comorbid dementia and depressive symptomatology. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was applied to determine the optimal cutoff of the AES-12PD as an indicator of apathy.

Results: The AES-12PD featured high internal consistency that was better compared to the AES. The abbreviated scale was well differentiated from motor impairment and cognitive deficits. The AES-12PD cutoff of 27/28 was the optimal cutoff for apathy in PD patients without dementia and depression. The cutoff of 25/26 indicated apathy in PD patients with comorbid dementia and depression.

Conclusion: Results confirm a high internal consistency and good discriminant validity of the AES-12PD. The AES-12PD represents a reliable tool for the efficient assessment of apathy that can be applied in PD patients with and without dementia and depression.

Keywords: Apathy; Apathy Evaluation Scale; Parkinson disease; neuropsychiatric symptoms; psychometric properties.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Apathy*
Comorbidity
Dementia / diagnosis*
Dementia / epidemiology
Depressive Disorder / diagnosis*
Depressive Disorder / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Parkinson Disease / diagnosis*
Parkinson Disease / epidemiology
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / standards*
Psychometrics / methods
Psychometrics / standards*
Reproducibility of Results