Validation of the Mini-Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination in Mild Cognitive Impairment in Arabic Speakers.

INTRODUCTION: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a target for early detection and intervention in dementia, yet there is a shortage of validated screening tools in Arabic to diagnose MCI. The mini-Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (m-ACE) is a brief cognitive battery that is scored out of 30 and can be administered in under 5 min providing a quick screening tool for assessment of cognition. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to validate the m-ACE in Arabic speakers in Egypt with MCI to provide cut-off scores. METHODS: We included 24 patients with MCI and 52 controls and administered the Arabic version of the m-ACE. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) on the total m-ACE score between MCI patients (mean 18.54, SD 3.05) and controls (mean 24.54, SD 2.68). There was also a statistically significant difference between MCI patients and controls on the total score and the fluency, visuospatial, and memory recall sub-scores of the m-ACE (p < 0.05). Performance on the m-ACE significantly correlated with both the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III). Using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the optimal cut-off score for MCI on the m-ACE total score was 21 out of 30 (87.5% sensitivity, 84.6% specificity, and 85.5% accuracy). CONCLUSIONS: We validated the Arabic m-ACE in Egyptian patients with MCI and provided objective validation of it as a screening tool for MCI, with good sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy that is comparable to other translated versions of the m-ACE in MCI.

Usability of a self-administered geriatric assessment mHealth: Cross-sectional study in a geriatric clinic.

AIM: mHealth can facilitate comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in countries with limited geriatric healthcare facilities. It can compensate for the lack of trained geriatricians and integrate CGA in different healthcare disciplines leading to better clinical outcomes. This study assessed the usability of a self-administered geriatric assessment smartphone application. METHODS: A cross-sectional study included participants from the geriatric clinic at Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. This study was performed in three phases: development and validation of an abbreviated geriatric assessment tool, and validation of the application prototype. Twenty subjects were recruited for pretesting the abbreviated assessment tool, then another 50 patients to validate this tool in a face-to-face interview. Afterwards, another 12 patients completed the prototype followed by a standardized office visit interview. Each assessment domain was evaluated in agreement with a valid reference test during the clinical interview. RESULTS: The application was simple and user friendly. The scores of each domain correlated to the reference test scores (rho = 0.59-0.93). Most of the domains exhibited good agreement with the reference tests (kappa = 0.68-1.00) (except for frailty and nutritional assessment). CONCLUSIONS: The mHealth geriatric assessment is possible and highly desirable during physical distancing and beyond. Obviously, this approach cannot substitute for clinical examination and multidisciplinary standard CGA. However, it may overcome some barriers facing the geriatrization of medicine. It would help general practitioners to provide pre-CGA evaluation, particularly in areas with limited access to formal geriatric healthcare services. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2021; 21: 222-228.

Validation of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III in Mild Cognitive Impairment in Arabic Speakers in Egypt.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents an important point on the pathway to developing dementia and a target for early detection and intervention. There is a shortage of validated cognitive screening tools in Arabic to diagnose MCI. The aim of this study was to validate Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III) (Egyptian-Arabic version) in a sample of patients with MCI, to provide cut-off scores in Egyptian-Arabic speakers. METHODS: A total of 24 patients with MCI and 54 controls were included in the study and were administered the Egyptian-Arabic version of the ACE-III. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in the total ACE-III score between MCI patients (mean 75.83, standard deviation (SD) 8.1) and controls (mean 86.26, SD 6.74). There was also a statistically significant difference between MCI patients and controls in the memory, fluency, and visuospatial sub-scores of the ACE-III (p < 0.05) but not in attention and language sub-scores. Using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the optimal cut-off score for diagnosing MCI on the ACE-III total score was 81, with 75% sensitivity, 82% specificity, and 80% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide objective validation of the Egyptian-Arabic version of the ACE-III as a screening tool for MCI, with good sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy that are comparable to other translated versions of the ACE-III in MCI.

Validation of the Egyptian-Arabic Version of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III) in Diagnosing Dementia.

INTRODUCTION: The Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III) (2012) is a brief cognitive battery that assesses five sub-domains of cognition (attention and orientation, memory, verbal fluency, language, and visuospatial abilities) which are commonly impaired in dementia. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to validate the Egyptian-Arabic ACE-III in dementia patients, and to provide cut-off scores for the ACE-III in diagnosing dementia in Egyptian-Arabic speakers. METHODS: We included 37 patients with dementia (Alzheimer's disease, n = 25, vascular dementia, n = 8, and dementia with Lewy bodies, n = 4) and 43 controls. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in the total ACE-III score between dementia patients (mean 49.81 ± 18.58) and controls (mean 84.84 ± 6.36). There was also a statistically significant difference between dementia patients and controls in all sub-score domains of the ACE-III (p < 0.001). Using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the optimal cut-off score for dementia on the ACE-III total score was 72, (89% sensitivity, 95% specificity, 92% accuracy). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide objective validation of the Egyptian-Arabic version of the ACE-III as a screening tool for dementia, with high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy comparable to other translated versions of the ACE-III.

The accuracy of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index in detecting frailty and sarcopenia in hospitalized older adults.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty are prevalent conditions amongst hospitalized elderly. They are associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. The co-existence of these problems is common, with malnutrition playing a major role in the pathogenesis of the other two. Whether nutritional screening tools are useful for frailty and sarcopenia screening needs further evaluation. AIM: To evaluate the accuracy of the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) in identifying frailty and sarcopenia in hospitalized older adults. METHODS: One hundred and fifty hospitalized patients (≥ 60 years) were recruited. Skeletal Muscle Index was obtained using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Muscle strength and physical performance were measured by handgrip strength and timed up and go test, respectively. GNRI and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool were used for nutritional assessment. RESULTS: GNRI had lower sensitivity but higher specificity compared to MNA in predicting frailty and dynapenia. GNRI discriminated the presence of sarcopenia but not pre-sarcopenia (AUC = 0.683, p = 0.02, and AUC = 0.586, p = 0.12), while MNA did not discriminate the presence of pre-sarcopenia nor sarcopenia in the studied sample (AUC = 0.56, p = 0.25 and AUC = 0.6, p = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia, frailty, and malnutrition coexisted in 26% of our sample. GNRI Score at ≤ 86.73 was 71.9% sensitive and 65.6% specific for detecting frailty and its score at ≤ 89.04 was 64.42% sensitive and 63.53% specific for detecting sarcopenia. GNRI is a simple method, which could be used for sarcopenia, and frailty screening in all elders attending primary care settings where other tools for assessing muscle mass are unavailable.

Overestimated functional dependency in older patients: Can we blame gender difference, unneeded assistance or assessment tools?

INTRODUCTION: The population is aging in Egypt and hence functional limitation is increasing. Thus finding the best measures for its detection is mandated. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess whether Katz ADL (activities of daily living) and Lawton IADL (instrumental activities of daily living) were suitable measures to represent the functional abilities of older Egyptians of both genders during hospital admission and to determine the dimensionality of both tools. METHODS: Functional status was assessed during hospital admission as a part of the comprehensive geriatric assessment for 786 older patients (aged 60 years and older). 150 of them were randomly interviewed to collect data regarding the difficulty during each task of Katz ADL and Lawton IADL performance, unnecessary and unmet needed assistance, barriers to get needed assistance and the type of care providers. RESULTS: The prevalence of ADL and IADL dependency was 61.80 % and 85.87 %, respectively. Functional limitation in both scales was found to be significantly associated with increasing age, marital status other than married, cognitive impairment. Both scales showed a bi-dimensional factor structure, removing continence from Katz ADL resulted in a uni-dimensional scale. Females were more dependent than males in all tasks except household tasks of IADL. CONCLUSIONS: Katz ADL and Lawton IADL did not capture the actual dependency level among older Egyptians. The household tasks in Lawton IADL and continence in Katz ADL mislabeled dependency in the studied sample.

Adaptation and Validation of the Mini-Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination in Dementia in Arabic Speakers in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: The mini-Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (m-ACE) is a brief cognitive battery that assesses 5 subdomains of cognition (attention, memory, verbal fluency, visuospatial abilities, and memory recall). It is scored out of 30 and can be administered in under 5 min providing a quick screening tool for assessment of cognition. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to adapt the m-ACE in Arabic speakers in Egypt and to validate it in dementia patients to provide cutoff scores. METHODS: We included 37 patients with dementia (Alzheimer's disease [n = 25], vascular dementia [n = 8], and dementia with Lewy body [n = 4]) and 43 controls. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) on the total m-ACE score between dementia patients (mean 10.54 and standard deviation [SD] 5.83) and controls (mean 24.02 and SD 2.75). There was also a statistically significant difference between dementia patients and controls on all sub-score domains of the m-ACE (p < 0.05). Performance on the m-ACE significantly correlated with both the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III). Using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the optimal cutoff score for dementia on the m-ACE total score was found to be 18 (92% sensitivity, 95% specificity, and 94% accuracy). CONCLUSIONS: We adapted the m-ACE in Arabic speakers in Egypt and provided objective validation of it as a screening tool for dementia, with high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.

Salivary amyloid ß42 levels in mild cognitive impairment among aged diabetics.

PURPOSE: The underlying pathology for cognitive decline in diabetic patients is uncertain. It was originally linked to vascular causes; however, possible contribution of Alzheimer's pathology was debated. This study explored the link between salivary amyloid ß42 level (as a surrogate marker for Alzheimer's pathology) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among old diabetic patients. METHODS: A case-control study included 90 diabetic participants, ≥ 60 years of age, divided into 45 cases with MCI and 45 controls. Patients with history of head trauma, any central nervous system pathology, depression, dementia or delirium, those who received anticholinergic drugs, or refused to participate in the study were excluded. Assessment of the relationship between salivary Aß42 level and neuropsychological performance was done using a battery consisting of the logical memory test, forward and backward digit span tests, category fluency test, go/no go test, stick design test, and second-order belief. RESULTS: Salivary Aß42 levels were higher in MCI diabetics versus controls (P = 0.014), it predicted MCI among aged diabetics, even after adjustment for confounding vascular risk factors. Salivary Aß42 had moderate accuracy to identify MCI (area under curve = 0.654, P = 0.008). At cut-off ≥ 47.5 pg/ml, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 80%, 47%, 60% and 70%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Current data support that MCI in diabetics, without CNS disorders, is associated with a surrogate marker of Alzheimer's pathology.

Effects of age, education, and gender on verbal fluency in healthy adult Arabic-speakers in Egypt.

The objective of this study is to establish the effects of age, gender, and education and to provide preliminary normative data for letter and category fluency tasks in the Egyptian Arabic-speaking population. We evaluated 139 cognitively healthy volunteers aged 20-93 by adapting the letter and category verbal fluency tasks for the Egyptian population. On the letter fluency task, mean number of words generated in one-minute beginning with the Arabic letter "Sheen" (pronounced "sh") was 8.14 words per minute (SD = 3.25). Letter fluency was significantly influenced by education. On category fluency tasks, mean number of animal names generated in one minute was 14.63 words (SD = 5.28). Category fluency was significantly influenced by age and education. We were able identify that age significantly affects category fluency while education significantly affected both letter and category fluency. We were also able to provide preliminary normative data for both tasks in the Egyptian population.

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy: The hidden cardiovascular comorbidity in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attending primary care settings.

AIM: To quantify the prevalence of chronic comorbidities including cardiac autonomic neuropathy among elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 175 elderly male patients with COPD attending Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. The comorbidities that might alter cardiac autonomic function in patients with COPD were identified. The patients without reported comorbidities underwent arterial blood gas analysis, pulmonary function tests and autonomic function assessment using cardiovascular reflexes. RESULTS: A total of 69.14% of the participants presented with comorbidities (group 1), whereas 30.85% of the participants reported no comorbidity (group 2). Among the participants, the most prevalent comorbid diseases were hypertension (34.20%), cor pulmonale (31.42%), ischemic heart disease (20.00%), diabetes (18.28%) and congestive heart failure (13.70%). In group 2, 29.60% and 22.20% of the patients had early and definite cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) respectively. CAN occurred early in the course of the disease with 40.90% of mild COPD cases being affected. The patients with definite CAN had the highest resting heart rate. The presence of CAN was related to hypercapnia, but not hypoxemia or COPD severity. CONCLUSION: COPD has a complex spectrum of comorbidities. Cardiac autonomic neuropathy in elderly male patients with COPD correlated with hypercapnia, but not hypoxemia or the disease severity.

Abdominal Aortic Diameter and the Risk for Asymptomatic Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common among older people because it often results from atherosclerosis, which becomes more common with age. The disease is particularly common among people who have diabetes. Little information is available on the relation between abdominal aortic diameter and PAD in elderly patients with diabetes. This article studies the relationships between abdominal aortic diameter, PAD, and the cardiovascular risk factors in asymptomatic elderly patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus. A case-control study was conducted on 90 participants aged 60 years and older divided into 60 cases (30 males and 30 females) and 30 age-matched healthy controls (15 males and 15 females). The relationships between the size of the abdominal aorta and ankle-brachial index (ABI), plasma cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were examined. Approximately, 15% of patients with diabetes had asymptomatic PAD. The patients with diabetes with PAD were of older age (70.4 ± 3.6 vs. 63.4 ± 3.9 years; p = 0.000), had larger abdominal aortic diameter (22.4 ± 3.08 vs. 18.7 ± 2 mm; p = 0.000), and higher CRP levels (8.3 ± 1.1 vs. 5.8 ± 2.2 mg/L; p = 0.002), while other variables revealed no significant difference. Abdominal aortic diameter correlated well with ABI measured by Doppler method in diabetic patients (r = - 0.471, p = 0.000). Older age and larger abdominal aorta are independent risk factors for asymptomatic PAD in the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Cross-cultural adaptation of an Arabic version of the 10-item hearing handicap inventory.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to translate and culturally adapt an Arabic version of the hearing handicap inventory for the elderly - screening (HHIE-S). DESIGN: The HHIE-S was translated following cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, and pretested in 20 elderly patients with hearing impairment. Next, the adapted Arabic HHIE-S underwent psychometric evaluation. The results were confirmed by pure-tone audiometer (PTA) examination. The patients completed the HHIE-S again after one hour. The validation of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency), (construct validity), and intraclass correlation coefficients (repeatability) was performed. STUDY SAMPLE: Twenty elderly subjects with hearing impairment were recruited for the pretesting stage, and 100 elderly subjects were recruited for the psychometric evaluation stage. Patients with acute illness, functional dependency, cognitive impairment, and previous users of hearing aids were excluded. RESULTS: The adapted Arabic HHIE-S showed good internal consistency (α = 0.902). Construct validity was good, as high correlations were found between the scale and the PTA outcome (r = 0.688, p = 0.000). Repeatability was high (ICC = 0.986). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the adapted Arabic HHIE-S is a valid and reliable questionnaire for the assessment of handicapping hearing impairment in Egyptian elderly patients.