A Confirmatory and an Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) in a European Case Series of Patients with Dementia: Results from the RECage Study

Background: One of the most widely used instruments for assessing agitation in dementia patients is Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), nevertheless no global score has been proposed. The aim this study is: (a) to conduct a confirmatory (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) CMAI on people with Psychological Behavioral Symptoms (BPSD), (b) propose an alternative structure, based clinical criteria including all items. Methods: Confirmatory analyses were carried out 29 items administered at baseline 505 (PwD) BPSD enrolled international observational RECage study. Results: three-factor structure not confirmed by CFA, whilst EFA was respectively 25 disregarding 4 prevalence ≤5% then 20 9 ≤10%. four-factor explaining 56% variance comprised Physically Aggressive behavior, Verbally non-aggressive verbally aggressive behavior. Conclusions: A new grouping according criterion proposed, allowing more sensible evaluation symptoms leading better differentiation.