J Korean Med Sci.  2023 Nov;38(44):e370. 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e370.

Validation of the Short Form of Korean-Everyday Cognition (K-ECog)

• Song M
• Seo DG
• Kim SY
• Kang Y

• KMID: 2547974
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e370

Abstract

Background
Evaluating the activities of daily living (ADL) is an important factor for diagnosing dementia. The Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale was developed to measure ADL changes that were correlated with specific neuropsychological impairments. A short form of the ECog (ECog-12) was also developed, consisting of 12 items, two from each of the six cognitive domains of the ECog. The Korean full version of ECog (K-ECog) has recently been standardized, but the need for a shortened version has been raised in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of ECog-12 (K-ECog-12) and to verify its reliability and validity by comparing those to the full version of K-ECog.
Methods
The participants were 267 cognitively normal older adults (CN), 183 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 89 patients with dementia. The Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), Korean-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (K-MoCA), and Short form of Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS) were administered to all participants. The K-ECog and Korean-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-IADL) were rated by the informants of patients.
Results
K-ECog-12 was newly constructed by replacing one item for the visuospatial function in the original ECog-12 with another one through an item response theory analysis on Korean data. The internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α) of K-ECog-12 and K-ECog were 0.95 and 0.99, respectively. The test–retest reliabilities (Pearson’s r) were 0.67 for K-ECog-12 and 0.73 for K-ECog. The K-ECog-12 was significantly correlated with K-ECog as well as K-IADL, K-MMSE, and K-MoCA. The K-ECog-12 scores differed significantly between the CN, MCI, and dementia groups, as did the K-ECog scores. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that K-ECog-12, like K-ECog, could differentiate MCI and dementia patients from CN as well.
Conclusion
The K-ECog-12 is as reliable and valid as the K-ECog in assessing ADL. Therefore, K-ECog-12 can be used as an alternative to the K-ECog in clinical and community settings in Korea.

Keyword

Everyday Cognition (ECog); Activities of Daily Living; Functional Assessment; Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI); Dementia

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 ROC curves for the K-ECog-12 and K-ECog in the comparison between CN and MCI.ROC = receiver operating characteristic, K-ECog-12 = Short version of Korean-Everyday Cognition-12 items, K-ECog = full-length 39 items of Korean-Everyday Cognition, CN = cognitively normal older adults, MCI = mild cognitive impairment.

• 

  Fig. 2 ROC curves for the K-ECog-12 and K-ECog in comparison between CN and dementia.ROC = receiver operating characteristic, K-ECog-12 = Short version of Korean-Everyday Cognition-12 items, K-ECog = full-length 39 items of Korean-Everyday Cognition, CN = cognitively normal older adults.

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