Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
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Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 6 P370-P374, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

An analysis of test bias and differential item functioning due to race on the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale

JL Woodard, AP Auchus, RE Godsall and RC Green
Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine. [email protected]

The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) is a commonly used cognitive measure designed to assess the course of decline in progressive dementias. However, little information is available about possible systematic racial bias on the items presented in this test. We investigated race as a potential source of test bias and differential item functioning in 40 pairs of African American and Caucasian dementia patients (N = 80), matched on age, education, and gender. Principal component analysis revealed similar patterns and magnitudes across component loadings for each racial group, indicating no clear evidence of test bias on account of race. Results of an item analysis of the MDRS revealed differential item functioning across groups on only 4 of 36 items, which may potentially be dropped to produce a modified MDRS that may be less sensitive to cultural factors. Given the absence of test bias because of race, the observed racial differences on the total MDRS score are most likely associated with group differences in dementia severity. We conclude that the MDRS shows no appreciable evidence of test bias and minimal differential item functioning (item bias) because of race, suggesting that the MDRS may be used in both African American and Caucasian dementia patients to assess dementia severity.


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