Abstract
The assessment of daily activities in patients with Alzheimer's disease provides much valuable information. It may be used to distinguish between normal aging, mild cognitive impairment and dementia; to evaluate the efficacy of treatment effect or the progression of disease; for the assessment of the severity of the disease, and more.
In a clinical setting, the use of structured questionnaires seems to be the best approach. To date, four scales have been translated into Czech (http://www.pcp.lf3.cuni.cz/adcentrum).
The functional activities questionnaire (FAQ-CZ) is suitable for discriminating between normal aging and early dementia. The disability assessment for dementia (DAD-CZ) and the Bristol activities of daily living scale (BADLS-CZ) enable the assessment of daily activities in patients suffering from mild to severe degrees of dementia, as well the monitoring of disease progression and treatment effect.
The Lawton IADL scale is widely used despite its numerous limitations, among them that it exists in several versions and its scoring can be ambiguous. We review the benefits of investigating activities of daily living and of questionnaires.
We also outline certain practical recommendations tailored to suit our local conditions.