Researchers Develop New Domain Rating Scale for Lewy Body Dementia

Researchers have developed the Lewy Body Dementia–Domain Rating Scale (LBD-DRS), an instrument designed to assess symptom severity and functional impact specifically for Lewy body dementia (LBD). Lewy body dementia currently lacks a validated, disease-specific outcome measure, a limitation that has constrained clinical trials and hindered the development of disease-modifying therapies. To evaluate the condition comprehensively, the scale assesses cognitive, neuropsychiatric, motor, autonomic and somatic, and sleep-wake domains, alongside activities of daily living and overall impact, through interviews conducted with both the patient and an informant.

The development process incorporated a three-round international Delphi consultation with Lewy body dementia experts, where consensus was defined as agreement of at least 75 percent. Response rates across the consecutive rounds were 93 percent in the first round (41 of 44 participants), 74 percent in the second round (35 of 47 participants), and 69 percent in the third round (42 of 61 participants). Complementing the expert consensus rounds, the research team also held a workshop with individuals living with Lewy body dementia and their carers to provide direct qualitative feedback on the instrument.

Expert consensus was established across key components of the measure, including 98 percent agreement on the necessity of an LBD-specific rating scale and 95 percent agreement on the inclusion of the five specified symptom domains. Furthermore, 93 percent of the responding experts agreed on the suitability of the final prototype for cognitive pretesting. The authors concluded that the LBD-DRS represents the first consensus-derived, multi-domain composite measure created specifically for Lewy body dementia, reporting that the instrument is ready for cognitive pretesting and formal clinimetric evaluation.

Subject of Research: Development of the Lewy Body Dementia–Domain Rating Scale

Article Title: Initial development of the lewy body dementia – domain rating scale: a disease-specific outcome measure

Article References: Rodriguez-Porcel, F., Matar, E., Kane, J. P. M., Schrag, A., Sikkes, S., Galasko, D., Boeve, B. F., & Taylor, J.-P. (2026). Initial development of the lewy body dementia – domain rating scale: a disease-specific outcome measure. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-026-02253-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s13195-026-02253-8

Keywords: Lewy body dementia, LBD-DRS, outcome measures, clinical trials, Delphi consensus, symptom severity, functional impact, clinimetric evaluation, Initial, development, lewy, body