Anticholinergic burden in adult and elderly people with intellectual disabilities: Results from an Italian multicenter cross-sectional study.

Background: Adults and older people with intellectual disabilities (ID) frequently receive anti-cholinergic drugs in chronic use, but no studies in Italy to date have investigated cumulative anticholinergic exposure and factors associated with high anticholinergic burden in this frail population.

Aim: To probe the cumulative exposure to anticholinergics and the demographic, social and clinical factors associated with high exposure.

Methods: The 2012 updated version of the Anticholinergic Burden Score (ACB) was calculated for a multicentre sample of 276 adult and older people over 40 years with ID and associations with factors assessed.

A Multicentre Italian Validation Study in Aging Adults with Down Syndrome and Other Forms of Intellectual Disabilities: Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities.

Background: The USA National Task Group (NTG) guidelines advocate the use of an adapted version of Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID) for dementia screening of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) and with other forms of ID (non-DS).

Objective: In order to meet these guidelines, this study verifies the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the original DSQIID in a population composed of adults aged 40 years and over with DS and non-DS ID.

Methods: Internal consistency, inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities, structural validity, convergent validity and known group differences of DSQIID-I were assessed with 200 individuals with ID (mean of 55.

Psychometric evaluation of the Italian version of the AADS questionnaire: a caregiver-rated tool for the assessment of behavioral deficits and excesses in persons with intellectual disabilities and dementia.

Background: The aim of this study was to verify the reliability and validity of the Italian version of the Assessment for Adults with Developmental Disabilities (AADS-I), the only available measure specifically designed to assess the frequency, management difficulties and impact on the quality of life (QoL) of positive and negative non-cognitive symptoms in persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) and dementia.

Methods: AADS-I was administered to professional carers of 63 aging ID individuals. We computed the internal consistency separately of the frequency, management difficulty and effect on the QoL subscales of Behavioral Excesses and Behavioral Deficits and their inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities.