Session Information
Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Session Title: Rating Scales
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Les Muses Terrace, Level 3
Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) across levels of cognitive abilities.
Background: Increasing attention is being given to cognitive impairment, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. However, in PD, the field remains limited by the large number of cognitive rating scales used in different studies. In addition, the diagnostic criteria for PD dementia (PDD) require the presence of both cognitive deficits and a functional impairment, yet the PD field lacks a single measure that assesses both. The Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB) is a composite tool that is widely used in Alzheimer’s disease research and which the FDA considers a tool to assess disease progression and a candidate for a single primary efficacy end point in MCI studies.
Method: Patients with idiopathic PD enrolled in an observational, longitudinal study of cognition at the University of Pennsylvania were recruited with their informants. They were administered the CDR-SOB close in time to their regular research visit, which includes global and domain-specific neuropsychological testing and functional questionnaires.
Results: 102 patients (normal cognition [NC]=40, MCI=40, PDD=22) and their informants completed the CDR-SOB and additional testing (mean difference between test dates = 109 days). The CDR-SOB total score was significantly correlated with the MoCA and Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (r’s=0.8, p’s<0.05), and the CDR-SOB sub-scores all correlated with the corresponding domain-specific neuropsychological or functional measure (all p’s <0.05). All CDR-SOB sub-scores significantly distinguished between PD-NC and PDD. Also the memory and judgment sub-scores, and the total instrument score, significantly distinguished between PD-NC, PD-MCI, and PDD (all p’s<0.05). Finally, there was high sensitivity and specificity for the instrument in distinguishing between PD-NC and PDD (AUC=0.94).
Conclusion: The CDR-SOB is a sensitive and specific instrument for dementia screening in PD. Additional research is needed to provide further support of the CDR-SOB as a composite measure of cognitive and functional impairment in PD clinical trials.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
J. Rick, S. Xie, E. Mamikonyan, B. Deck, S. Rudovsky, A. Chen-Plotkin, N. Dahodwala, J. Morley, J. Duda, J. Trojanowski, D. Weintraub. Validation of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes in Parkinson’s Disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2019; 34 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/validation-of-the-clinical-dementia-rating-scale-sum-of-boxes-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed June 14, 2025.« Back to 2019 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/validation-of-the-clinical-dementia-rating-scale-sum-of-boxes-in-parkinsons-disease/