The usefulness of the International classification of functioning, disability and health in geriatric assessment

Assessment is of major importance in geriatrics. It leads to early detection of health problems, contributes to the prevention of functional loss and dependency, to the improvement of quality of life and it reduces length of stay and hospital (re)admission. Although the crucial role of assessment is widely recognised, there is no unanimity on the way it has to be performed. The current reference in assessment of human functioning is the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), developed by the World Health Organization in 2001. This present work focuses on the implementation of the ICF in geriatric assessment. First, the Geriatric Minimal Dataset–25 (GMDS-25) was linked to the ICF, thus providing a more universal language for research and clinical work. Next, the Mini Mental State Examination was conversed to the ICF, by content comparison and by subsequent translation of the scoring system. In Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the importance of the criterion concerning Activities of Daily Living (ADL) is widely recognised, but there neither a consensus on the expected ADLlimitation nor a uniformity in language and structure in the domain of ADL assessment (e.g. scale content, items and definitions, scoring systems). Therefore, an ICF based assessment tool to evaluate functional status in MCI has been developed with good psychometric properties.