Usefulness of the University of California San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment for the evaluation of cognitive function and activities of daily living function in patients with cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the usefulness of the University of California San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA) as a new diagnostic method and tool for the assessment of cognitive function and activities of daily living function in patients with cognitive impairment.

METHOD: In total, 35 patients with cognitive impairment and 35 healthy controls were recruited for this study. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) were used for the evaluation of cognitive function, while the Barthel Activities of Daily Living Index (BADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Index (IADL), and UPSA were used for the evaluation of activities of daily living function.

RESULTS: UPSA scores were significantly lower in patients with cognitive impairment than in controls. The UPSA total score was significantly correlated with MMSE, CDR, GDS, and IADL scores. With regard to the detection of cognitive impairment, UPSA exhibited a greater determination power (R2 = 0.593) compared with BADL (R2 = 0.149) and IADL (R2 = 0.423) and higher sensitivity and specificity compared with IADL.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that UPSA is a useful tool for the evaluation of cognitive function and activities of daily living function in patients with cognitive impairment.