The Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL): Results from a Validation Study in Three European Countries

Abstract

The Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL) is a 25-item, informant-rated questionnaire which was developed as a brief and internationally applicable instrument for assessing functional disabilities. The scale’s target group are elderly patients suffering from mild to moderate dementia or cognitive impairment. To investigate the reliability and validity of different language versions, the B-ADL was administered in the UK, Germany, and Spain to a total of 1,433 subjects with a wide range of cognitive decline. The results from the three country samples were very similar, with internal consistency being above 0.98 (Cronbach alpha). A factor analysis revealed that a one-factor solution accounted for most of the variance. The B-ADL total score significantly increased between adjacent Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) stages 1 to 5. A second factor analysis entering additional variables (GDS stage, Mini-Mental State Examination or MMSE subscores, age, years of education, gender, and country) revealed that all B-ADL items loaded on the same factor, ‘dementia severity’, and that they were not related to age, education, gender, or country. In the identification of subjects with clinically manifest dementia symptoms (GDS stages 4 and 5), the B-ADL proved to be as efficient as the MMSE in the UK and German samples and superior to the MMSE in the Spanish sample.

The Bayer: Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL) in the differentiation between mild to moderate dementia and normal aging

“…7 These results suggest that the B-ADL may also be useful in the follow-up and treatment evaluation of dementia patients documenting the impairment in activities of daily living at various disease stages.…”

“…[6][7] The Brazilian version of the scale was adapted to Brazilian Portuguese and tested by the "MAPI Research Institute".…”

“…[6][7] The first two items evaluate the patient's ability to handle the ADL and his/her capacity to care for himself/herself. Items three to twenty evaluate specific tasks and the last five items assess cognitive functions important for performing activities of daily living.…”

Combined instruments for the screening of dementia in older people with low Education

“…The B-ADL was designed to be applied in several cultures, for its sensitivity to detect mild cases of dementia and for measuring different functional aspects of the individual 12,20 . It is a 10-point scale, with 25 questions which are completed by a caregiver or a close relative 11 .…”

Demência de Alzheimer: correlação entre memória e autonomia

“…Utilizada em diferentes populações, permite detectar casos leves de demência, bem como, ao ser associada ao MEEM apresenta sensibilidade de 86,7% para diagnosticar a doença. Em estudo realizado na Espanha, Alemanha e Reino Unido, foram avaliados 1.433 pacientes com declínio cognitivo, e o resultado nos três países foi similar, testando, assim sua validade em línguas e culturas diferentes (Erzigkeit et al, 2001).…”