Current Alzheimer research
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Functional Activities Questionnaire Items that Best Discriminate and Predict Progression from Clinically Normal to Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) emerges in the transition from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. Some IADL scales are sensitive to early deficits in MCI, but none have been validated for detecting subtle functional changes in clinically normal (CN) elderly at risk for AD. ⋯ These results demonstrate that certain questions are especially sensitive in detecting the earliest functional changes in CN elderly at risk for AD. As the field moves toward earlier intervention in preclinical AD, it is important to determine which IADL changes can be detected at that stage and track decline over time.