A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia

A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia

Previous publications have shown a high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of three short clinical rating scales for Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and vascular dementia (VaD) validated against neuropathological (NP) diagnoses. In this study, the aim was to perform...

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Main Authors: Lars Gustafson, Catarina Erikson, Siegbert Warkentin, Arne Brun, Elisabet Englund, Ulla Passant
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2011-01-01
Series:International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/632604
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spelling doaj-9d3eef5800f64d65ad7ae89db16c6b332020-11-24T22:39:29ZengHindawi LimitedInternational Journal of Alzheimer's Disease2090-02522011-01-01201110.4061/2011/632604632604A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in DementiaLars Gustafson0Catarina Erikson1Siegbert Warkentin2Arne Brun3Elisabet Englund4Ulla Passant5Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenDepartment of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenDepartment of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenDepartment of Pathology, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenDepartment of Pathology, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenDepartment of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund, Lund University, 221 85 Lund, SwedenPrevious publications have shown a high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of three short clinical rating scales for Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and vascular dementia (VaD) validated against neuropathological (NP) diagnoses. In this study, the aim was to perform an exploratory factor analysis of the items in these clinical rating scales. The study included 190 patients with postmortem diagnoses of AD (n=74), VaD (n=33), mixed AD/VaD (n=31), or FTD (n=52). The factor analysis produced three strong factors. Factor 1 contained items describing cerebrovascular disease, similar to the Hachinski Ischemic Score. Factor 2 enclosed major clinical characteristics of FTD, and factor 3 showed a striking similarity to the AD scale. A fourth symptom cluster was described by perception and expression of emotions. The factor analyses strongly support the construct validity of the diagnostic rating scales.http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/632604
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Lars Gustafson
Catarina Erikson
Siegbert Warkentin
Arne Brun
Elisabet Englund
Ulla Passant
spellingShingle Lars Gustafson
Catarina Erikson
Siegbert Warkentin
Arne Brun
Elisabet Englund
Ulla Passant
A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
author_facet Lars Gustafson
Catarina Erikson
Siegbert Warkentin
Arne Brun
Elisabet Englund
Ulla Passant
author_sort Lars Gustafson
title A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
title_short A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
title_full A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
title_fullStr A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
title_full_unstemmed A Factor Analytic Approach to Symptom Patterns in Dementia
title_sort factor analytic approach to symptom patterns in dementia
publisher Hindawi Limited
series International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
issn 2090-0252
publishDate 2011-01-01
description Previous publications have shown a high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of three short clinical rating scales for Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and vascular dementia (VaD) validated against neuropathological (NP) diagnoses. In this study, the aim was to perform an exploratory factor analysis of the items in these clinical rating scales. The study included 190 patients with postmortem diagnoses of AD (n=74), VaD (n=33), mixed AD/VaD (n=31), or FTD (n=52). The factor analysis produced three strong factors. Factor 1 contained items describing cerebrovascular disease, similar to the Hachinski Ischemic Score. Factor 2 enclosed major clinical characteristics of FTD, and factor 3 showed a striking similarity to the AD scale. A fourth symptom cluster was described by perception and expression of emotions. The factor analyses strongly support the construct validity of the diagnostic rating scales.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/632604
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