The Adaptive Behaviour Dementia Questionnaire (ABDQ): screening questionnaire for dementia in Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome.

Prasher et al. (2004) built a short questionnaire to spot dementia in adults with Down syndrome. They called it the Adaptive Behaviour Dementia Questionnaire, or ABDQ for short. The team checked if the 15 yes-no items gave the same answers when different people used it.

Adults with Down syndrome took part, along with carers who knew them well. The researchers compared ABDQ scores to doctors' dementia diagnoses to see how well the tool worked.

The ABDQ got it right 92 percent of the time. It flagged most people who truly had dementia and rarely cried wolf on healthy adults. The carers could finish the 15 items in minutes.

Test-retest and inter-rater checks came out good, so the tool gives steady results across raters and time.

Zigman et al. (1997) warned that almost every adult with Down syndrome over 40 shows Alzheimer-type brain change. That early head-count gave V et al. a clear reason to build a quick screen like the ABDQ.

Nieuwenhuis-Mark (2009) later summed up the same field and listed the ABDQ as one practical way to cut through diagnostic noise. The review echoes the need for brief, carer-friendly tools.

Moya et al. (2022) took the idea further by setting a French cut-off on a memory test for the same group. Both papers push the same strategy: pick a short tool, find the score that best splits dementia from no-dementia, and teach carers to use it.

If you serve adults with Down syndrome, you can add the 15-item ABDQ to your intake packet. It takes carers only a few minutes and gives you a red-flag score that matches doctor diagnoses nine times out of ten. Use it yearly after age 40 to catch decline early and start supports sooner.