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P2–177: Ecological assessment of the executive functions in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Espinosa Anna,
Alegret Montse,
Boada Merce,
Tarraga Lluis,
Peña-Casanova Jordi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2006.05.1015
Subject(s) - dysexecutive syndrome , neuropsychology , executive functions , analysis of covariance , cognition , psychology , neuropsychological assessment , cognitive impairment , disease , audiology , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , machine learning , computer science
Background: With the development of new disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there will be an increasing need and justification for early diagnosis. Objective(s): In a previous study, we found that the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS, a 6-item verbal cued recall task) and the Visual Association Test (VAT, a 6-item visual cued recall task) were useful instruments to differentiate AD from depression when applying a cut-off score of 8 (out of 12). Most AD patients obtained a score 8 and most of the healthy and depressed elderly obtained a score 8. Moreover, by applying this cut-off score, the combined cued recall score (combination of MISand VAT-scores) was able to identify MCI patients with a score 8 (like AD patients) and MCI patients with a score 8 (like healthy and depressed elderly). This prospective, longitudinal study was designed to investigate whether a combined cued recall score of 8 was able to predict cognitive decline after 18 months of follow-up. Methods: At baseline, MIS, VAT, CAMCOG (a cognitive screening test) and other neuropsychological tests were administered to 40 MCI patients, diagnosed according to the criteria of Petersen et al. The first 16 patients completing a follow-up period of 18 months entered this interim analysis and were reassessed by means of the CAMCOG. A possible cognitive decline was calculated by subtracting both CAMCOG scores. We assumed the presence of cognitive decline when a negative score was obtained. Results: A binary logistic regression analysis showed that the combined cued recall score was rather able to predict the presence or absence of a cognitive decline as assessed by the CAMCOG after 18 months (95%CI 0.048-1.249, p 0.09). All MCI patients with a combined cued recall score 8 (n 11) showed a cognitive decline after 18 months (sensitivity 100%). As 4/5 MCI patients with scores 8 showed no cognitive decline, specificity values reached 80%. The overall hit rate of correct predictions was 94%. Conclusions: This interim analysis from a prospective, longitudinal study showed that a combined cued recall score might be a good predictor of cognitive decline among MCI patients.