Performance of Greek demented and nondemented subjects on the Greek version of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. A validation study.

A translated version of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) into Greek ((DRS-GR) was applied to a sample of Greek population (N = 356) comprising normal middle-aged and elderly subjects (controls), as well as patients suffering from Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) to test its reliability and validity. A well-known dementia screening instrument, the Mini Mental State Examination test (MMSE), and a nonverbal measure of abstract reasoning, the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices, were employed as measures of DRS-GR concurrent validity. Reliability analysis was satisfactory with Cronbach's alpha reaching 0.82 and item to total correlations yielding high coefficients for most items. DRS-GR scores were influenced by age and education, but not by gender. Correlation between MMSE and the total DRS-GR score was significant in patients and normal controls, but correlation between DRS-GR and RCPM was significant in AD and nondemented PD only. Specificity and sensitivity for dementia screening, calculated on a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve, with a cut-off score the mean value minus two standard deviations, corrected for age and education, was 96% and 80%, respectively. Our preliminary findings show that DRS-GR is a reliable and well-adapted instrument for clinical application in the Greek population.

Assessing quality of life in Parkinson's disease: can a short-form questionnaire be useful?

Various instruments with good psychometric properties have been developed for the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease, (PD); however, in everyday practice a brief questionnaire is needed for quick screening of patients. We present the process of development and validation of the Greek version of PD questionnaire-8 (PDQ-8(GrV)), which is an 8-item scale derived from a well-known measure for the evaluation of HRQoL in PD, the PD questionnaire (PDQ-39). PDQ-8 (GrV) was applied to 228 nondemented Greek PD patients. Data from PDQ-39 were also collected from these patients for comparisons between the total scores of the two scales. Detailed statistical analysis showed that PD-8(GrV) has psychometric properties analogous to its parent questionnaire.