Assessment of Functional Ability in Alzheimer Disease

Assessment of activities of daily living (ADL) in Alzheimer disease (AD) is critical in establishing the diagnosis, monitoring disease progression, evaluating the efficacy of treatment interventions, and determining the need for health and social services. The proper method to measure ADL depends on the purposes to which the scale is to be put. Existing ADL scales differ as to the type of behaviors assessed, the nature of the observations made, and the manner in which the observations are quantified. These scales were not specifically designed to evaluate changes in the nature and extent of the broad spectrum of functional difficulties seen in individuals with AD. We describe the Cleveland Scale for Activities of Daily Living (CSADL), an informant-based instrument designed to expand upon the capacity of existing physical and instrumental ADL scales by assessing both premorbid and current component acts (e.g., initiation versus implementation) of daily living functions.