Our objective was to conduct a validation study of the Portuguese version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) by means of the Rasch Rating Scale Model, and then compare it with the most used scales of anxiety in Portugal. The sample consisted of 1,160 adults (427 men and 733 women), aged 18-82 years old (M=33.39; SD=11.85). Instruments were Beck Anxiety Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. It was found that Beck Anxiety Inventory's system of four categories, the data-model fit, and people reliability were adequate. The measure can be considered as unidimensional. Gender and age-related differences were not a threat to the validity. BAI correlated significantly with other anxiety measures. In conclusion, BAI shows good psychometric quality

In the present study we analyzed the psychometric characteristics of the MoCA (Portuguese version) using the Rasch model for dichotomous items. The total sample comprised of 897 participants distributed between two main subgroups: (I) healthy group that was comprised of 650 cognitively healthy community dwellers and (II) clinical group that was comprised of 90 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, 90 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 33 patients with frontotemporal dementia, and 34 patients with vascular dementia recruited at a reference dementia clinic. All patients were investigated through a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment, laboratory tests essential to exclude a reversible form of dementia, imaging studies (CT or MRI and SPECT or FDG-PET), Apolipoprotein E allele genotyping and CSF biomarker (Aβ42,Tau, and P-tau) analyses. The clinical diagnosis was established through the consensus of a multidisciplinary team, based on international criteria. The results demonstrated an overall good fit of both items and the person's values, a high variability on cognitive performance level, and a good quality of the measurements. The MoCA scores also demonstrated adequate discriminant validity, with high diagnostic value. DIF analyses indicated the generalized validity of the MoCA scores. In conclusion, the results of this study show the overall psychometric adequacy of the MoCA and verify the discriminant and generalized validity of the obtained results.

Our aim was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Mini-Mental State Examination-37 using the Rasch Model (RM) in order to identify the cognitive domains that optimize detection of dementia in the Spanish population. All participants (n = 3955) were part of the NEDICES (Neurological Disorders in Central Spain) cohort study designed to detect dementia in persons aged 65 years and older. Clinical diagnosis of dementia (n = 178) was established by consensus of expert neurologists according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Results indicate that the items on the MMSE-37 have a good fit with the assumptions of the RM. None of the items on the MMSE-37 exhibits differential item functioning in relation to the groups. The items that assess orientation, attention, and language (repetition and comprehension) are those that best enable us to discriminate between the group with dementia and the group without dementia. The implications of the education and other sociodemographic characteristics of the population are discussed.