Contribution of executive functioning to instrumental activities of daily living in older adults

Abstract

The Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS) is a performance-based measure of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Executive dysfunction has been linked to impairment on other IADL measures but has not been thoroughly investigated with the TFLS. This study examined the contribution of executive functioning to IADLs on the TFLS among 228 older adults (M age =76.0 +/− 6.5 years; 59% females) who completed the TFLS as part of comprehensive assessment at an outpatient neuropsychology clinic. Executive functioning measures included the Trail Making Test (TMT) Part B, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-II (WASI-II) Matrix Reasoning and Similarities subtests. Results from a hierarchical regression model revealed that only TMT Part B (β = −.23, p = .023) and WASI-II Similarities (β = .32, p = .002) scores significantly predicted TFLS Total scores after controlling for the contributions of demographics (i.e., age, education, and gender), and intellectual functioning and capabilities in other neurocognitive domains (i.e., WASI-II Vocabulary and Block Design subtests, TMT Part A, and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Coding subtest, and the Immediate Memory, Delayed Memory, and Visuospatial/Construction Indices).

Keywords:

• Executive functions
• instrumental activities of daily living
• older adults
• Texas Functional Living Scale