Activities of daily living ratings of elderly people using Katz' ADL Index and the GBS-M scale.

Instruments for measuring activities of daily living (ADL) are useful in estimating institutionalized elderly ill people's need of care. The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent the GBS-M scale measures ADL status, as determined by Katz' ADL Index. Forty-two elderly patients in long-term care in a psychiatric hospital were rated independently using each of the two scales. The correlation coefficient between results of the ratings was r = 0.93, i.e., high scores on one of the scales gave high scores on the other scale. Fifty per cent of severely demented patients had maximal scores on measures of ADL.