Open AccessEnhancing the Sensitivity of Memory Tests: Reference Data for the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test and the Logical Memory Task from Cognitively Healthy Subjects with Normal Alzheimer’s Disease Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarker Levels
Author(s) -
Anna BrugulatSerrat,
Alba CañasMartínez,
Lidia CanalsGispert,
Paula Marne,
Nina Gramunt,
Marta MilàAlomà,
Marc SuárezCalvet,
Eider M. ArenazaUrquijo,
Oriol GrauRivera,
José María GonzálezdeEchávarri,
Carolina Minguillón,
Karine Fauria,
Gwendlyn Kollmorgen,
Ivonne Suridjan,
Henrik Zetterberg,
Kaj Blennow,
Juan Domingo Gispert,
José Luís Molinuevo,
Gonzalo SánchezBenavides
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of alzheimer's disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.677
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1875-8908
pISSN - 1387-2877
DOI - 10.3233/jad-210640
Subject(s) - psychology , logical address , context (archaeology) , cognition , developmental psychology , wechsler adult intelligence scale , normative , biomarker , cognitive psychology , audiology , clinical psychology , neuroscience , medicine , paleontology , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , physical address , epistemology , overlay , computer science , biology , programming language
Background: Cognitive performance of a given individual should be interpreted in the context of reference standards obtained in cognitively healthy populations. Recent evidence has shown that removing asymptomatic individuals with biomarker evidence of Alzheimer’s disease pathology from normative samples increases the sensitivity of norms to detect memory impairments. These kind of norms may be useful for defining subtle cognitive decline, the transitional cognitive decline between normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment. Objective: The present study aims to provide norms for the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) and the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV in a sample of individuals aged 50–70 years with normal levels of amyloid-β and tau cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Methods: The sample was composed of 248 individuals from the ALFA+ study with negative amyloid-β and tau CSF biomarker levels. Regression-based norms were developed, including adjustments for age, education, and sex when applicable. Results: We found that education was associated with the performance in all the variables of both tests while age had a marginal effect only in the delayed free recall of the FCSRT. Sex was also related to the performance in the FCSRT, with women outperforming men. Equations to calculate z-scores and normative percentile tables were created. As compared with previously published norms the reference data presented were more sensitive but less specific, as expected. Conclusion: The use of the norms provided in this work, in combination with the already published conventional norms, may contribute to detecting subtle memory impairment.