Association of verbal fluency test with progression to dementia in non‐demented older adults

Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Umegaki ◽  
Yusuke Suzuki
2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (11) ◽  
pp. 1805-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Szlejf ◽  
Claudia K Suemoto ◽  
Paulo A Lotufo ◽  
Isabela M Benseñor

Abstract Background Sarcopenia and cognitive impairment share pathophysiological paths and risk factors. Our aim was to investigate the association of sarcopenia and its defining components with cognitive performance in middle-aged and older adults. Methods This cross-sectional analysis included 5,038 participants from the ELSA-Brasil Study, aged ≥ 55 years. Muscle mass was evaluated by bioelectrical impedance analysis and muscle strength by handgrip strength. Sarcopenia was defined according to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health. Cognition was evaluated using delayed word recall test, semantic verbal fluency test, and trail making test version B. Possible confounders included sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and clinical comorbidities. Results The frequencies of sarcopenia, low muscle mass, and low muscle strength were 1.8%, 23.3%, and 4.4%, respectively. After adjustment for possible confounders, poorer performance on the verbal fluency test was associated with sarcopenia (β = −0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.38; −0.01, p = .03) and low muscle mass (β = −0.08, 95% CI = −0.14; −0.01, p = .02). Low muscle strength was associated with poorer performance in the delayed word recall test (β = −0.14, 95% CI = −0.27; −0.02, p = .02), verbal fluency test (β = −0.14, 95% CI = −0.26; −0.02, p = .03), and trail making test (β = −0.15, 95% CI = −0.27; −0.03, p = .01). Conclusions Sarcopenia was associated with poorer performance on the verbal fluency test, and low muscle strength was associated with poorer performance in all cognitive tests in middle-aged and older adults.


Author(s):  
Bruno Henrique de Mello ◽  
Maria Helena Lenardt ◽  
Dayana Cristina Moraes ◽  
Larissa Sayuri Setoguchi ◽  
Marcia Daniele Seima ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the association between cognitive impairment and physical frailty in older adults in secondary health care. Method: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with people aged ≥ 60 years, assisted at a geriatric and gerontology outpatient clinic. For cognitive screening, the Mini Mental State Examination, the semantic verbal fluency test, and frailty assessment using the physical frailty phenotype were used. The likelihood ratio test was applied to the predictive model. Results: 407 older adults participated in the study. Cognitive impairment was observed in 58.5% (n=238) of the sample, being higher in frail (n=66; 75%). A change in the semantic verbal fluency test was identified in 22% (n=90), with a higher prevalence in pre-frail patients (55.5%; n=226). It was identified 2.5 times more chance of a frail older person, when compared to a non-frail one, to have cognitive impairment (95% CI, +0.947 - 0.322). The chance for alteration in the semantic verbal fluency test was 5.4 times higher in frail compared to non-frail ones (95% CI, 1.68 - 0.38). Conclusion: A relationship was observed between cognitive impairment and physical frailty. Screening for frailty in geriatric nursing practice and the implementation of specific care is recommended.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 2400-2410
Author(s):  
Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa ◽  
Itziar Benito-Sánchez ◽  
Montserrat Alegret ◽  
Anna Gailhajanet ◽  
Esther Landa Torre ◽  
...  

Purpose The aim of this study was to compare Basque and Catalan bilinguals' performance on the letter verbal fluency test and determine whether significant differences are present depending on the letters used and the language of administration. Method The sample consisted of 87 Spanish monolinguals, 139 Basque bilinguals, and 130 Catalan bilinguals from Spain. Participants completed the letter verbal fluency test using the letters F, A, S, M, R, P, and E. Results Bilinguals scored higher on the letter verbal fluency test when they were tested in Spanish than in Basque or Catalan. No performance differences were found according to native language or dialects within Basque participants. Catalans with Spanish as their native language scored lower on the letter F compared to those who grew up speaking Catalan and Spanish. The suggested letters to use with Basque speakers are A, E, and B; the suggested letters to use with Catalan speakers are P, F, and M; and the suggested letters to use with Spanish speakers are M, R, and P. Conclusion Selecting appropriate stimuli depending on the language of testing is the first crucial step to assess verbal fluency and thus possible frontal lobe functioning impairment.


2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 104-104
Author(s):  
R.M. Murray ◽  
CM. Gilvarry ◽  
A. Russell ◽  
D. Hemsley

Neuropsychological deficits are found in both schizophrenic patients and their relatives, and some studies have shown similar, but less severe, deficits in affective psychotic patients and their relatives. We set out to establish – whether schizophrenia spectrum personality traits are more common in the relatives of schizophrenic patients than relatives of affective psychotic patients; – what is the relationship between spectrum personality traits and neuropsychological deficits in these relatives.Relatives were interviewed using the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE), and also completed the National Adult Reading Test (NART), the Trail Making Test (TMT: Parts A and B) and Thurstone's Verbal Fluency Test (TVFT). Spectrum personality traits were equally common in the 129 relatives of schizophrenic and 106 relatives of affective psychotic patients. Relatives of psychotic patients who themselves had high paranoid traits had lower NART scores than those without such personality traits (p=0.007);similarly, those with high schizoid personality traits took longer to complete the TMT, part B than those without such traits (p=0.0l); and relatives with high schizotypal traits generated significantly fewer words on the verbal fluency test than those without such traits (p=0.04).


1997 ◽  
Vol 52B (5) ◽  
pp. P247-P250 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. F. K. Chiu ◽  
C. K. Y. Chan ◽  
L. C. W. Lam ◽  
K.-o. Ng ◽  
S.-w. Li ◽  
...  

A study was conducted using the verbal fluency test of 153 patients with a primary episode of bipolar affective disorder: with prevalence of depressive symptoms (44 men and 75 women), with prevalence of manic symptoms (15 men and 8 women), and with simultaneous presence of depressive symptoms and manic symptoms phase change (6 men and 5 women). Significant impairment of test performance in patients with depression with respect to phonetic and semantic verbal fluency was revealed: the average number of words per letter "K" per 60 sec. in all patients 14,1±2,7 words, in men – 13,8±3,1 words, in women - 14,3±2,4 words, on the letter "P" – 12,5±2,8 respectively words, 12.3±3.2 words, 12.6±2.6 words, "Male Names" – 13.1±2.6 words respectively, 12.8±3.0 words, 13.3±2,4 words; "Fruits / furniture" – 12.0±2.4 words, 11.9±2.8 words, 12.1±2.1 words. Deterioration in the performance of semantic and phonemic verbal fluency test reflects the state of bradypsychism inherent in patients with depressive variant, which manifests a slow thinking rate, difficulty concentrating attention, motor inhibition, deterioration of operational capacity, rapid exhaustion. In patients with a maniacal variant, the high speed of the test is offset by a large number of errors due to the chaotic mental activity, instability and scattering of attention, the difficulty of maintaining focus of attention: the indicators were respectively 21.7±5.7 words, 22.5±5.7 words, 20,3±6.0 words; 20.3±5.6 words, 21.1±5.5 words, 19.0±5.9 words; 20.5±5.4 words, 21.2±5.2 words, 19.1±5.7 words; 19.5±5.4 words, 20.2±5.2 words, 18.1±5.7 words. In patients with mixed variants, the indicators of verbal fluency are reduced due to the influence of complex polymorphic symptoms with rapid change of state: respectively 16.5±5.6 words, 18.2±6.1 words, 14.4±4.8 words; 14.5±5.4 words, 16.2±5.7 words, 12.4±4.8 words; 15.4±5.4 words, 17.0±5.8 words, 13.4±4.8 words; 13.9±5.0 words, 15.5±5.3 words, 12.0±4.3 words. The differences in scores across all subtests in all groups between men and women are statistically insignificant (p>0.05).


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. S829-S830
Author(s):  
K. Machalska ◽  
A. Turek ◽  
A.A. Chrobak ◽  
A. Tereszko ◽  
M. Siwek ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-203
Author(s):  
Ioannis Liappas ◽  
Ioulia Theotoka ◽  
Elisabeth Kapaki ◽  
Ioannis Ilias ◽  
George P. Paraskevas ◽  
...  

We studied 40 male and 37 female ( M age = 63 yr.) Greek alcoholic patients and an equal number of control subjects. Both groups were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Syndrome Short Test, the Verbal Fluency Test (Category & Letter), the Clock Test, and the Digit Span (Forward and Backward from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised). Alcoholic patients had statistically significant lower scores on MMSE, Verbal Fluency Test, and Digit Span, and higher scores on the Syndrome Short Test, while positive correlations were found among MMSE, Verbal Fluency Test, Clock Test, Digit Span-Backward, and age. These findings point to frontal lobe dysfunction in Greek alcoholic patients which is not different from that shown in patients from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.


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