Validation Study of the Italian Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised in a Young-Old and Old-Old Population

Aims: The main aims of the study were the translation and the subsequent validation in Italian of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R), and the evaluation of its usefulness in discriminating cognitively normal subjects from patients with mild dementia in an elderly population. Methods: The ACE-R was translated and adapted into Italian. The Italian ACE-R was administered to a group of 179 elderly subjects (72 cognitively healthy and 107 subjects with mild dementia, mean age 75.4 +/- 6.4 years). The group was stratified into two subsamples according to age, i.e. a young-old (< 75 years) and an old-old (>= 75 years) group, in order to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the test in detecting dementia in different age strata of elderly subjects. Results: The reliability of the Italian ACE-R was extremely good (alpha-coefficient = 0.85). Two different cutoffs were identified for young-old (cutoff 79; sensitivity 90% and specificity 80%) and old-old subjects (cutoff 60; sensitivity 82% and specificity 100%). Conclusions: The Italian ACE-R is a valid screening tool to detect dementia, especially in the old-old population, which represents not only the fastest growing age group but also the group at the highest risk of dementia in Western countries. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel