Validation of AD8-Philippines (AD8-P): A Brief Informant-Based Questionnaire for Dementia Screening in the Philippines.

AIM: This study was aimed at validating the Filipino version of AD8 (AD8-P). METHODS: Community-dwelling Filipino older persons aged ≥60 years, together with their informants, participated in this study. Psychologists independently interviewed the informants with AD8-P and administered the Filipino-validated Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-P) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-P) to the older persons. Neurologists and geriatrician conducted physical and neurological examination and Clinical Dementia Rating™ (CDR™) to determine cognitive diagnosis and were blinded with the results of AD8-P. Dementia was diagnosed based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. AD8-P discriminatory ability to screen for dementia was evaluated according to DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for dementia. RESULTS: A total of 366 community-dwelling Filipino older persons aged ≥60 years, 213 with normal cognition and 153 with dementia, and their informants were included in this study. Majority (90%) were at the mildest stage of dementia. Area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUROC) for AD8-P was 0.94 (95% CI 0.92 to 0.96), demonstrating excellent overall predictive power to screen for dementia. The optimal AD8-P cut-off score with best balance sensitivity (91.5%) and specificity (77.9%) was ≥3. CONCLUSION: AD8-P demonstrated good psychometric properties to screen for dementia, even at the earliest stage of cognitive decline.

Improving Cognition through Dance in Older Filipinos with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND: People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are considered a high-risk population for developing dementia and therefore potential targets for preventive interventions. So far, no pharmacological interventions have proven to be effective. Latest evidence has laid the groundwork for the hypothesis that dancing can have beneficial effect on cognition by improving neuroplasticity. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine whether a structured modular ballroom dance intervention (INDAK) could improve cognition among Filipino older persons with MCI. METHODS: A two-armed, single-blinded, quasi-experimental study was conducted in a community-based population at Marikina City, Philippines. Two hundred and seven participants older than 60 years old with MCI participated through self-assigned allocation to dance (N=101) and control (N=106) groups. The intervention group received INDAK consisting eight types of ballroom dances with increasing complexity lasting one hour, twice a week for 48 weeks. Neurologists and psychologists blinded to the group allocation administered baseline and post intervention assessments using Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive (ADAS-Cog), Filipino version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-P), Boston Naming Test (BNT), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) and Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD). RESULTS: Baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics did not differ between groups. The mean differences between baseline and 48-week assessments were compared between dancers and controls, showing that the intervention group improved in ADAS-Cog, MoCA-P, BNT and GDS. CONCLUSION: INDAK is potentially a novel, ecological and inexpensive non-pharmacological intervention that can improve cognition among older Filipinos with MCI.