Robert Fieo1, Shubhabrata Mukherjee2, Natalia O Dmitrieva3, Denise C Fyffe4, Alden L Gross5,6, Elizabeth R Sanders2, Heather R Romero7,8, Guy G Potter3,7, Jennifer J Manly1, Dan M Mungas9, Laura E Gibbons2. 1. Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. 2. General Internal Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. 3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. 4. Kessler Foundation, Spinal Cord Injury/Outcomes and Assessment Laboratory and New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, West Orange, NJ, USA. 5. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. 6. Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. 7. Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA. 8. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA. 9. Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine whether differential item functioning (DIF) due to cognitive status impacted three depressive symptoms measures commonly used with older adults. METHODS: Differential item functioning in depressive symptoms was assessed among participants (N = 3558) taking part in four longitudinal studies of cognitive aging, using the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Participants were grouped by cognitive status using a general cognitive performance score derived from each study's neuropsychological battery and linked to a national average using a population-based survey representative of the US population. The Clinical Dementia Rating score was used as an alternate grouping variable in three of the studies. RESULTS: Although statistically significant DIF based on cognitive status was found for some depressive symptom items (e.g., items related to memory complaints, appetite loss, lack of energy, and mood), the effect of item bias on the total score for each scale was negligible. CONCLUSIONS: The depressive symptoms scales in these four studies measured depression in the same way, regardless of cognitive status. This may reduce concerns about using these depression measures in cognitive aging research, as relationships between depression and cognitive decline are unlikely to have been due to item bias, at least in the ways that were measured in the datasets we considered.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine whether differential item functioning (DIF) due to cognitive status impacted three depressive symptoms measures commonly used with older adults. METHODS: Differential item functioning in depressive symptoms was assessed among participants (N = 3558) taking part in four longitudinal studies of cognitive aging, using the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Participants were grouped by cognitive status using a general cognitive performance score derived from each study's neuropsychological battery and linked to a national average using a population-based survey representative of the US population. The Clinical Dementia Rating score was used as an alternate grouping variable in three of the studies. RESULTS: Although statistically significant DIF based on cognitive status was found for some depressive symptom items (e.g., items related to memory complaints, appetite loss, lack of energy, and mood), the effect of item bias on the total score for each scale was negligible. CONCLUSIONS: The depressive symptoms scales in these four studies measured depression in the same way, regardless of cognitive status. This may reduce concerns about using these depression measures in cognitive aging research, as relationships between depression and cognitive decline are unlikely to have been due to item bias, at least in the ways that were measured in the datasets we considered.
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