Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R)

Portuguese version

Firmino, H., Simões, M. R., Pinho, M. S., Cerejeira, J., & Martins, C. (2018). Avaliação Cognitiva de Addenbrooke-Revista: Versão Portuguesa. Manual técnico (2ª ed.) [Addenbrooke's Cognitive Assessment-Revista: Portuguese Version. Technical manual (2nd ed.)]. Laboratório de Avaliação Psicológica e Psicometria (PsyAssessmentLab). Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.

Original version

Mioshi, E., Dawson, K., Mitchell, J., Arnold, R., & Hodges, J. R. (2006). The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R): A brief cognitive test battery for dementia screening. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 21, 1078-1085. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.1610.

Background and description

The ACE-R is a brief screening cognitive test that was developed to detect some clinical conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Vascular Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson's Disease, Aphasia, Stroke and differential diagnosis between Depression and Alzheimer’s Disease.

The normative sample includes 1450 participants and the stratification considers various age groups (18-39; 40-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; > 80 years) and education (1-4; 5-9; > 10 years). Available normative data includes, in addition to the global ACE-R score (0-100; percentiles), scores for the various domains examined (Attention and Orientation, Memory, Verbal Fluency, Language and Viso-spatial). The ACE-R incorporates all the items of another well-known cognitive screening test – the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) – for which the respective norms are also indicated.

Assessment Domain: Cognition.

Type of Instrument: Paper-and-pencil test, including oral and performance tasks.

Administration: Individual, 15-20 minutes.

Population: Adults, older adults.

Dimensions

The ACE-R assesses five neurocognitive functioning domains: Attention and Orientation (18 points), Memory (26 points), Verbal Fluency (14 points), Language (26 points) and Visuospatial (16 points).

The total score is obtained by summing all of the sub-scores, ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate better cognitive functioning.

Studies

Discriminant validity studies already carried out include the following groups: (i) Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia and community/control groups (Gonçalves et al., 2015); mild cognitive impairment, dementia, depression and community/control groups (Simões et al., 2011, 2015); elderly drivers with and without the competence to continue driving (Ferreira, Simões, & Marôco, 2013). The research carried out with the Rasch/Item Response Theory models allow us to conclude that the items in the Portuguese version of the ACE-R have excellent psychometric properties (Simões et al., 2011).

Contacts

Mário R. Simões (simoesmr@fpce.uc.pt).

Horácio Firmino (hfirmino@mac.com).

References

1. Ferreira, I. S., Simões, M. R., & Marôco, J. (2012). The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised as a potential screening test for elderly drivers. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 49, 278-286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.03.036
2. Ferreira, I. S., Simões, M. R., & Marôco, J. (2013). Cognitive and psychomotor tests as predictors of on-road driving ability in older primary care patients. Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 21, 146-158. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2013.09.007
3. Gonçalves, C., Pinho, M. S., Cruz, V., Gens, H., Oliveira, F., Pais, J., Gens., G, Oliveira, F., Santana, I., Rente, J., & Santos, J. M. (2015). The Portuguese version of Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) in the diagnosis of subcortical vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 22(4), 473-485. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/13825585.2014.984652
4. Simões, M. R., Firmino, H., & Sousa, L. B., & Pinho, M. S. (2011). Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R): Portuguese Adaptation, Validation and Norming. 9th Congress of European Association of Geriatric Psychiatry (EAGP). Porto (Portugal).
5. Simões, M. R., Firmino, H., Sousa, L., & Pinho, M. S. (2011). Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination (ACE-R): Estudos de validação no Declínio Cognitivo Ligeiro e Doença de Alzheimer [Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination (ACE-R): Validation Studies in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease]. Coimbra: II Jornadas Internacionais do Centro de Investigação do Núcleo de Estudos e Intervenção Cognitivo-Comportamental (CINEICC): “Novos olhares sobre a mente”.
6. Simões, M. R., Pinho, M. S., Prieto, G., Sousa, L. B., Ferreira, I., Gonçalves, C., Pimentel, P., Santos, F., & Firmino, H. (2015). Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R). In M. R. Simões, I. Santana & Grupo de Estudos de Envelhecimento Cerebral e Demência (Eds.), Escalas e Testes na Demência (3.ª ed.; pp. 32-37) [Scales and Tests in Dementia, 3rd ed.]. Novartis.