Biomedical subjects

Tenko Raykov

Publications and source records attributed to Tenko Raykov.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Correlates of change in functional status of institutionalized geriatric schizophrenic patients: focus on medical comorbidity.

OBJECTIVE: Impairment in basic self-care skills is common in patients with schizophrenia and is even more severe in elderly patients with a chronic course of institutional care. While cognitive impairment has proven to be a major predictor of overall functional deficit in schizophrenia, other potential factors, such as medical comorbidity, need to be considered. METHOD: Geriatric institutionalized schizophrenic patients (N=124) were assessed three times over 4 years to determine levels of positive and negative symptoms, impairment in activities of daily living, impairment in cognitive functioning, and medical problems. Path analysis was used to determine which variables best predicted changes in self-care functions. RESULTS: Functional status, negative symptoms, cognitive functions, and health status all significantly worsened during the follow-up. The path analyses showed that change in health status did not predict change in activities of daily living after the analysis accounted for negative symptoms and cognitive functions. DISCUSSION: The results highlight the relative importance of cognitive impairments in the functional impairments of older schizophrenic patients with increased medical burden.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2002

Examining group differences in reliability of multiple-component instruments.

A covariance structure modelling method for examining group differences in scale reliability of multi-component measuring instruments is proposed. The procedure is based on a set of appropriate parameter constraints imposed in a multiple-population structural model. Unlike tests of group differences in coefficient alpha that in general do not evaluate the discrepancies in scale reliability coefficients, the described approach permits one to examine differences in the latter quantities of actual interest when concerned with questions pertaining to reliability of composite scores. The method can be used to test whether a given measuring instrument has identical reliabilities in studied populations, and/or whether distinct instruments, or modes of administration of the same instrument, have equal reliabilities across groups. The proposed procedure is illustrated with a pair of examples.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A comparative study of two psychometric approaches to detect risk status for dementia.

This study results from an effort to examine the relationship between the diagnostic potentials for detecting risk status for dementia of a cognitive plasticity approach and a traditional status-oriented procedure (test battery) by Storandt et al. [Arch Neurol 1984;41:497-499]. The aim is to compare prediction accuracy for risk for developing dementia with these two approaches. A sample of 106 community-dwelling elderly adults were tested with both procedures, and their scores on the Structured Interview for the Diagnosis of Dementia used as external criterion for predicting risk status. The findings show that figural relations pretest and training gains account for a considerable amount of individual differences in mental status similar to that explained by the traditional test battery. In addition, the accuracy of discrimination between healthy and at-risk participants appears slightly higher when using the figural pretest and training gains. These results suggest the conclusion that use of figural relations tests and the cognitive plasticity approach represents a viable alternative to the traditional, status-oriented test battery as a means of early diagnosis of dementia in nonclinical populations.

Aged↗