Title | The Role of Verb Fluency in the Detection of Early Cognitive Impairment in Alzheimer's Disease. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Authors | Alegret, M, Peretó, M, Pérez, A, Valero, S, Espinosa, A, Ortega, G, Hernandez, I, Mauleón, A, Rosende-Roca, M, Vargas, L, Rodríguez-Gómez, O, Abdelnour, C, Berthier, ML, Bak, TH, Ruiz, A, Tárraga, L, Boada, M |
Journal | J Alzheimers Dis |
Volume | 62 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 611-619 |
Date Published | 2018 |
ISSN | 1875-8908 |
Keywords | Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Case-Control Studies, Cognitive Dysfunction, Cross-Sectional Studies, Early Diagnosis, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Language Tests, Logistic Models, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Proportional Hazards Models, Sensitivity and Specificity, Spain |
Abstract | BACKGROUND: Verb fluency (VF) is the less commonly used fluency test, despite several studies suggesting its potential as a neuropsychological assessment tool. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the presence of VF deficits in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia; to assess the usefulness of VF in the detection of cognitively healthy (CH) people who will convert to MCI, and from MCI to dementia; and to establish the VF cut-offs useful in the cognitive assessment of Spanish population. METHODS: 568 CH, 885 MCI, and 367 mild AD dementia individuals were administered the VF test and a complete neuropsychological battery. Longitudinal analyses were performed in 231 CH and 667 MCI subjects to search for VF predictors of diagnosis conversion. RESULTS: A worsening on VF performance from CH, MCI to AD dementia groups was found. Lower performances on VF were significantly related to conversion from CH to MCI/MCI to dementia. When the effect of time to conversion was analyzed, a significant effect of VF was found on the faster conversion from CH to MCI, but not from MCI to dementia. Moreover, VF cut-off scores and sensitivity/specificity values were calculated for 6 conditions (3 age ranges by 2 educational levels). CONCLUSION: The VF test may be a useful tool for the differential diagnosis of cognitive failure in the elderly. Since VF deficits seem to take place in early stages of the disease, it is a suitable neuropsychological tool for the detection not only of CH people who will convert to MCI, but also from MCI to dementia. |
DOI | 10.3233/JAD-170826 |
Alternate Journal | J. Alzheimers Dis. |
PubMed ID | 29480180 |