Korean Version of the Baylor Profound Mental Status Examination: A Brief Staging Measure for Patients with Severe Alzheimer`s Disease

Abstract

Background: The Baylor Profound Mental Status Examination (BPMSE) was modeled to provide a brief patient-derived rating scale for staging and tracking patients with severe stages of Alzheimer`s disease ( AD). Methods: The BPMSE was administered to 91 patients with probable AD ( Korean version of the MMSE less than 16) according to the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer`s Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria. The patients were also evaluated using the Korean version of the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB-Ko), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Barthel Activities of Daily Living (B-ADL), the Korean version of the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-IADL), the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) and the Functional Assessment Staging (FAST). Results: There were significant correlations between the BPMSEKo and K-MMSE scores (r = 0.66, p < 0.001) and between the BPMSE-Ko and SIB-Ko scores (r = 0.83, p < 0.001). The BPMSE-Ko correlated with the CDR, GDS, B-ADL, K-IADL, K-NPI and FAST scores (p < 0.001). The BPMSE-Ko scores continued to decline even after the K-MMSE reached values near 0. Conclusions: The BPMSE-Ko is a time efficient and useful tool to measure cognitive function in patients with severe AD. Copyright (c) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel