Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Coinfection , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Coinfection/epidemiology , Portugal/epidemiology , Intensive Care UnitsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QOL-AD) is a widely used scale for the study of quality of life in patients with dementia. The aim of this study is the transcultural adaptation and validation of the QOL-AD scale in Portugal. METHODS: Translation and transcultural adaptation was performed according to state-of-the-art recommendations. For the validation study, 104 patient/caregiver pairs were enrolled. Patients had mild cognitive impairment or mild-to-moderate dementia (due to Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia). Participants were recruited in a dementia outpatient clinic setting and a long-term care dementia ward. An additional comparison group of 22 patients without cognitive impairment, and their proxies, was recruited in a family practice outpatient clinic. Sociodemographic information on patients and caregivers was obtained. Acceptability, reliability, and construct validity were analyzed. RESULTS: Internal consistency of the Portuguese version of QOL-AD was good for both patient and caregiver report (Cronbach's α = 0.867 and 0.858, respectively). Construct validity was confirmed by the correlation of patient reported QOL-AD with patient geriatric depression scale scores (ρ = -0.702, p < 0.001) and satisfaction with life scale scores (ρ = 0.543, p < 0.001). Caregiver ratings were correlated with neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) total score (ρ = -0.404, p < 0.001), NPI-distress (ρ = -0.346, p < 0.001), and patient Mini-Mental State Examination (ρ = 0.319, p < 0.01). QOL-AD patient ratings were higher than caregiver ratings (p < 0.001). Both patient- and caregiver-rated QOL-AD scores were lower in patients with cognitive impairment than in the comparison group without cognitive impairment (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A Portuguese version of QOL-AD with consistent psychometric properties was obtained and is proposed as a useful tool for research and clinical purposes.
Subject(s)
Cognition Disorders/psychology , Dementia/psychology , Quality of Life/psychology , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Caregivers/psychology , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Dementia/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Male , Neuropsychological Tests , Portugal , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) is affected in patients with dementia, but it is not clear whether it is already disturbed in more initial phases of cognitive decline, like Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). AIM: Compare the QoL in MCI patients with controls without cognitive impairment, and ascertain whether there are differences in the reports of QoL made by the subjects and by their informants. METHODS: Two hundred participants were enrolled, divided into MCI patients (n = 50), MCI informants (n = 50), recruited from a memory clinic and a dementia outpatient clinic, and controls (n = 50) and controls informants (n = 50), recruited in a family practice clinic. QoL was assessed with the QoL in Alzheimer disease (QOL-AD) scale. RESULTS: The total scores of the QOL-AD questionnaire were 32.1 ± 6.9 for MCI patients self-report, 27.2 ± 6.7 for MCI patients in the opinion of their informants, 35.3 ± 4.9 for controls self-report and 35.6 ± 4.9 for controls in the opinion of their informants. MCI patients had lower QOL-AD scores than controls. The QoL reported by patients with MCI was more favorable than the opinion of their informants. CONCLUSION: The QoL is affected at early stages of cognitive decline. The QoL reported by patients with MCI is better than the opinion of their informants, similarly to what is known in Alzheimer's disease patients. QoL appears to be an important domain to be evaluated in aging studies.
