Reporting of the translation and cultural adaptation procedures of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination version III (ACE-III) and its predecessors: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The ACE-III, a gold standard for screening cognitive impairment, is restricted by language and culture, with no uniform set of guidelines for its adaptation. To develop guidelines a compilation of all the adaptation procedures undertaken by adapters of the ACE-III and its predecessors is needed.

METHODS: We searched EMBASE, Medline and PsychINFO and screened publications from a previous review. We included publications on adapted versions of the ACE-III and its predecessors, extracting translation and cultural adaptation procedures and assessing their quality.

RESULTS: We deemed 32 papers suitable for analysis. 7 translation steps were identified and we determined which items of the ACE-III are culturally dependent.

CONCLUSIONS: This review lists all adaptations of the ACE, ACE-R and ACE-III, rates the reporting of their adaptation procedures and summarises adaptation procedures into steps that can be undertaken by adapters.