The Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL): results from a validation study in three European countries.

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.

Effects of lipid lowering by pravastatin on progression and regression of coronary artery disease in symptomatic men with normal to moderately elevated serum cholesterol levels. The Regression Growth Evaluation Statin Study (REGRESS).

BACKGROUND: Intensive lowering of serum cholesterol may retard progression of coronary atherosclerosis in selected groups of patients. However, few data are available on the potential benefit of serum cholesterol reduction in the broad range of patients with coronary atherosclerosis and normal to moderately elevated serum cholesterol levels who undergo various forms of treatment. The Regression Growth Evaluation Statin Study (REGRESS) addresses this group of patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: REGRESS is a double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study to assess the effects of 2 years of treatment with the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor pravastatin on progression and regression of coronary atherosclerosis in 885 male patients with a serum cholesterol level between 4 and 8 mmol/L (155 and 310 mg/dL) by quantitative coronary arteriography. Primary end points were (1) change in average mean segment diameter per patient and (2) change in average minimum obstruction diameter per patient. Clinical events were also analyzed. Of the 885 patients, 778 (88%) had an evaluable final angiogram. Mean segment diameter decreased 0.10 mm in the placebo group versus 0.06 mm in the pravastatin group (P = .019): The mean difference between treatment groups was 0.04 mm, with a 95% CI of 0.01 to 0.07 mm. The median minimum obstruction diameter decreased 0.09 mm in the placebo group versus 0.03 mm in the pravastatin group (P = .001): The difference of the medians between the treatment groups was 0.06 mm, with a CI of 0.02 to 0.08 mm. At the end of the follow-up period, 89% (CI, 86% to 92%) of the pravastatin patients and 81% (CI, 77% to 85%) of the placebo patients were without new cardiovascular events (P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: In symptomatic men with significant coronary atherosclerosis and normal to moderately elevated serum cholesterol, less progression of coronary atherosclerosis and fewer new cardiovascular events were observed in the group of patients treated with pravastatin than in the placebo group.