Verification of the psychometric properties of the Slovak version of the Dementia Rating Scale-2 in a healthy population and in patients with Parkinson's disease-a pilot study

Aim: Aims of this study were to verify the psychometric characteristics of the Slovak version of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 (DRS-2), examine its dia gnostic accuracy in the population of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and establish a preliminary cut-off score for the dia gnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Sample and methods:The clinical population consisted of 30 patients with PD with an average duration of the disease of 5.53 & PLUSMN; 3.92 years. Eleven patients were dia gnosed with MCI. The control group of healthy people without neurological disease consisted of 43 participants who were age and education matched. All participants were administered the Slovak version of the DRS-2 measuring attention, memory, initiation/ perseveration, construction skills and conceptualization. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was used to assess convergent validity. Results: Correlations of DRS-2 scores with a screening tools and analogous tests of the neuropsychological battery indicate good convergent validity of the tool (with the exception of the construction subtest). We found the strongest relationships for the initiation/perseveration and memory subtests. Furthermore, we objectified a good discriminative power in patients with PD without cognitive deficits and patients with MCI with the determination of an optimal cut-off score of 134 points (sensitivity 81.80% and specificity 89.50%). Conclusion: The Slovak version of the DRS-2 is an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties and can potentially be used to test cognition in the healthy population and patients with Parkinson's disease.