Validation of the Geriatric Depression Scale for an elderly Sri Lankan clinic population.

Background: Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) has not been validated for the elderly population in Sri Lanka.

Aim: To translate, validate, and examine the effectiveness of GDS and to suggest the optimal cut-off scores for elderly Sri Lankans attending a psychogeriatric clinic.

Materials And Methods: The Sinhalese translation of GDS (GDS-S) was administered to people aged 55 years and above, attending a psychogeriatric outpatient clinic.

Validation of a functional screening instrument for dementia in an elderly sri lankan population: comparison of modified bristol and blessed activities of daily living scales.

Background: Cognitive tests have been used in population surveys as first stage screens for dementia but are biased by education. However functional ability scales are less biased by education than the cognitive scale and thus can be used in screening for dementia.

Objective: To validate Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale appropriate for use in assessing the presence of dementia in an elderly population living in care homes in Sri Lanka.