scholarly journals Impact of Hearing Impairment on Missingness of Cognitive Test Scores in the ARIC Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 821-822
Author(s):  
Jennifer Deal ◽  
Alden Gross ◽  
Alison Abraham ◽  
A Richey Sharrett ◽  
Nicholas Reed ◽  
...  

Abstract Despite its high prevalence, the impact of hearing impairment on completion of cognitive tests, many of which rely on auditory input to access test material, has not been described. We investigated if hearing impairment is associated with missing scores in 3602 adults (72-94 years, 23% black, 60% female). Cognition was measured using 10 neurocognitive tests. Pure tone better-ear hearing thresholds (0.5-4 kHz) were averaged and categorized. ≥Moderate hearing impairment (versus none) was associated with greater missingness on two auditory tests: Logical Memory (prevalence ratio [PR]:1.40, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.01,1.70) and Digits Backwards (PR:1.35, 95% CI:1.00,1.82); and the non-auditory Trail Making Test Part B (PR:1.48, 95% CI:1.24,1.77). Compared to models using complete cognitive data, models that imputed missing scores showed stronger associations of hearing impairment with poor cognitive performance. Older adults with HI are less likely to complete cognitive testing, resulting in biased estimates of the hearing impairment-cognitive performance relationship.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maira Rozenfeld Olchik ◽  
Annelise Ayres ◽  
Marcieli Ghisi ◽  
Artur Francisco Schumacher Schuh ◽  
Carlos Roberto Mello Rieder

ABSTRACT Background: Evidence points to the occurrence of cognitive impairment in all stages of PD, constituting a frequent and debilitating symptom, due to high impact on quality of life and mortality of patients. Objective: To correlate cognitive performance with quality of life in PD. Methods: The sample was drawn from a Movement Disorders Clinic of a reference hospital in Porto Alegre. Inclusion criteria were: PD diagnosis, according to the United Kingdom Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank criteria for idiopathic PD (Hughes et al. 1992) and patient consent to participate. Patients with other neurological pathologies and those submitted to deep brain stimulation were excluded. The evaluation consisted of a cognitive testing battery (composed of eight tests for assessing cognitive performance), and a questionnaire on quality of life (PDQ-39) and depression (BDI). Results: The sample comprised 85 individuals with PD, with a mean age of 62.9 years (±10.7), mean disease duration of 10.4 years (±5.7), and mean educational level of four years (±4.3). There was a significant relationship between total score on the PDQ and all cognitive tests, showing that poor cognitive performance was correlated with poor quality of life. Moreover, a significant correlation was observed between cognitive tests and depression, H&Y, education level, and age. Conclusion: It may be concluded that the individuals with PD in this sample showed a correlation between poorer quality of life and worse cognitive performance. Poor performance was also correlated with more advanced stage, older age, low level of education and depression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 439-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew T. Wittbrodt ◽  
Mindy Millard-Stafford ◽  
Ross A. Sherman ◽  
Christopher C. Cheatham

Purpose:The impact of mild hypohydration on physiological responses and cognitive performance following exercise-heat stress (EHS) were examined compared with conditions when fluids were ingested ad libitum (AL) or replaced to match sweat losses (FR).Methods:Twelve unacclimatized, recreationally-active men (22.2 ± 2.4 y) completed 50 min cycling (60%VO2peak) in the heat (32°C; 65% RH) under three conditions: no fluid (NF), AL, and FR. Before and after EHS, a cognitive battery was completed: Trail making, perceptual vigilance, pattern comparison, match-to-sample, and letter-digit recognition tests.Results:Hypohydration during NF was greater compared with AL and FR (NF: -1.5 ± 0.6; AL: -0.3 ± 0.8; FR: -0.1 ± 0.3% body mass loss) resulting in higher core temperature (by 0.4, 0.5 °C), heart rate (by 13 and 15 b·min-1), and physiological strain (by 1.3, 1.5) at the end of EHS compared with AL and FR, respectively. Cognitive performance (response time and accuracy) was not altered by fluid condition; however, mean response time improved (p < .05) for letter-digit recognition (by 56.7 ± 85.8 ms or 3.8%; p < .05) and pattern comparison (by 80.6 ± 57.4 ms or 7.1%; p < .001), but mean accuracy decreased in trail making (by 1.2 ± 1.4%; p = .01) after EHS (across all conditions).Conclusions:For recreational athletes, fluid intake effectively mitigated physiological strain induced by mild hypohydration; however, mild hypohydration resulting from EHS elicited no adverse changes in cognitive performance.


2002 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Takser ◽  
Georges Dellatolas ◽  
Rosemarie Bowler ◽  
Nathalie Laplante ◽  
Guy Huel

Studies of predictive factors of manual dexterity in adolescents and young adults are lacking. The present longitudinal study reports the relationships between cognitive and behavioural assessments at age 7 years and the schooling, cognitive performance, and manual dexterity at age 17 years. The participants were 65 schoolchildren, 30 boys and 35 girls, from a rural area in France. Assessment at age 7 years included the McCarthy scales and questionnaires measuring the behavior of the child, completed by the mother, the teacher, and the assessing psychologist. Assessment at age 17 years included schooling situation (whether they were in high school or not), cognitive testing (WAIS-R, Trail Making, Verbal Fluency, Cancel H. Stroop, Memory Assessment Scales), and manual dexterity resting (dynamometer, Finger Tapping, Santa Ana Test, Purdue Pegboard). After controlling for effects of parental education and IQ, a negative teachers' rating of children's behaviour and abilities in first-grade (7 years) was correlated with early cessation of schooling, but also, unexpectedly, with higher scores for manual dexterity at 17 years. Manual dexterity was not related to cognitive performance at 17 years. It is suggested that the relationship between manual and cognitive performance varies during development. Although manual exploratory behaviour is an important correlate of early cognitive development, manual dexterity is probably not related to later academic performance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley J. Szabo ◽  
Michael L. Alosco ◽  
Andrew Fedor ◽  
John Gunstad

Context: Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) is a computerized cognitive test battery commonly used for concussion evaluation. An important aspect of these procedures is baseline testing, but researchers have suggested that many users do not use validity indices to ensure adequate effort during testing. No one has examined the prevalence of invalid performance for college football players. Objective: To examine the prevalence of invalid scores on ImPACT testing. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I university. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 159 athletes (age = 20.3 ± 1.41 years; range = 17.8–23.7 years) from a Division I collegiate football team participated. Intervention(s): An informational intervention regarding the importance of concussion testing to promote safety was administered before testing for the most recent season. Main Outcome Measure(s): We examined preseason ImPACT testing data across a 3-year period (total assessments = 269). Based on invalid and sandbagging indices denoted by the ImPACT manual, protocols were examined to indicate how many invalid indices each athlete had. Results: A total of 27.9% (n = 75) of assessments were suggestive of invalid scores, with 4.1% (n = 11) suggesting invalid responding only, 17.5% (n = 47) indicating “sandbagging” only, and 6.3% (n = 17) showing both invalid and sandbagging responding. The informational intervention did not reduce the prevalence of invalid responding. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for further information about the ImPACT validity indices and whether they truly reflect poor effort. Future work is needed to identify practices to reliably target and reduce invalid responding.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 703-703
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tolea ◽  
Stephanie Chrisphonte ◽  
James Galvin

Abstract Vitamin D has been consistently linked to better cognitive function in observational studies. This impact may be due in part through its influence on neurotrophins. Whether the relationships between vitamin D, neurotrophins, and cognition vary based on biological factors such as age and sex is unclear. Using data from a sample of 400 community-dwelling older (mean age=75.3±9.4; 47% female) participants in a cross-sectional study of cognitive aging, we assessed relationships between plasma 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D and performance on a neuropsychological battery modeled after the UDSv3.0. Moderation by age and sex and the impact of vitamin D on the relationship between Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and cognitive performance were assessed by linear regression stratified by sex and age (median split at 76y). We found vitamin D to be positively linked to global cognition (MoCA: β=0.095±0.025SE, p&lt;0.001), working memory (Number Span Forward: β=0.017±0.007SE, p=0.011; Number Span Backward: β=0.016±0.007SE, p=0.028), episodic memory (Immediate Recall : β=0.089±0.027SE, p=0.001; Delayed Recall: β=0.047±0.015SE, p=0.002), attention and processing speed (Trail Making A: β=-0.365±0.163SE, p=0.026), executive function (Trail Making B: β=-0.537±0.215SE, p=0.014; Number-Symbol Coding: β=0.139±0.057SE, p=0.016), and an overall measure of cognitive function (z score: β=0.049±0.018SE, p=0.007). Most of these relationships were observed in women and younger older individuals (&lt;76y). In addition, vitamin D increased the effect of IGF-1 on global cognition and memory by 13% and 8%, respectively. Our findings suggest that vitamin D-focused dementia prevention efforts would benefit if targeted to women and younger segments of the senior population and/or as an adjuvant to cognitive enhancement interventions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-288
Author(s):  
Jane H Cerhan ◽  
S Keith Anderson ◽  
Alissa M Butts ◽  
Alyx B Porter ◽  
Kurt Jaeckle ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cognitive function is an important outcome in brain-tumor clinical trials. Cognitive examiners are often needed across multiple sites, many of whom have no prior testing experience. To ensure quality, we looked at examiner errors in administering a commonly used cognitive test battery, determined whether the errors were correctable upon central review, and considered whether the same errors would be detected using onsite electronic data entry. Methods We looked at 500 cognitive exams administered for brain-tumor trials led by the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance). Of 2277 tests examined, 32 noncorrectable errors were detected with routine central review (1.4% of tests administered), and thus removed from the database of the respective trial. The invalidation rate for each test was 0.8% for each part of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, 0.8% for Controlled Oral Word Association, 1.8% for Trail Making Test-A and 2.6% for Trail Making Test-B. It was estimated that, with onsite data entry and no central review, 4.9% of the tests entered would have uncorrected errors and 1.3% of entered tests would be frankly invalid but not removed. Conclusions Cognitive test results are useful and robust outcome measures for brain-tumor clinical trials. Error rates are extremely low, and almost all are correctable with central review of scoring, which is easy to accomplish. We caution that many errors could be missed if onsite electronic entry is utilized instead of central review, and it would be important to mitigate the risk of invalid scores being entered. ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers NCT01781468 (Alliance A221101), NCT01372774 (NCCTG N107C), NCT00731731 (NCCTG N0874), and NCT00887146 (NCCTG N0577).


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Moriarty ◽  
Kelsey Bourbeau ◽  
Bryanne Bellovary ◽  
Micah N. Zuhl

Activation changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions have been linked to acute exercise-induced improvements in cognitive performance. The type of exercise performed may influence PFC activation, and further impact cognitive function. The present study aimed to compare PFC activation during cognitive testing after moderate-intensity, high intensity, and yoga exercises, and to determine if PFC activation is linked to cognitive performance. Eight subjects (four male and four female), aged 35 ± 5 completed a control, high intensity, moderate intensity, and yoga exercises followed by administration of a cognitive task (NIH Toolbox Fluid Cognition). Left and right PFC activation (LPFC and RPFC, respectively) were evaluated by measuring hemoglobin difference (Hbdiff) changes during post-exercise cognitive assessment using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Activation during the cognitive test was higher in the LPFC after moderate intensity exercise compared to control, high intensity, and yoga (5.30 ± 6.65 vs. 2.26 ± 2.40, 2.50 ± 1.48, 2.41 ± 2.36 μM, p < 0.05, respectively). A negative relationship was detected between LPFC and processing speed after exercise. PFC activation did not align with cognitive performance. However, acute exercise, regardless of type, appeared to alter neural processing. Specifically, less PFC activation was required for a given neural output after exercise.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley K. Lefferts ◽  
William E. Hughes ◽  
Corey N. White ◽  
Tom D. Brutsaert ◽  
Kevin S. Heffernan

The matching of oxygen supply to neural demand (i.e., neurovascular coupling (NVC)) is an important determinant of cognitive performance. The impact of hypoxia on NVC remains poorly characterized. NVC is partially modulated by nitric oxide (NO), which may initially decrease in hypoxia. This study investigated the effect of acute NO-donor (nitrate) supplementation on NVC and cognitive function in hypoxia. Twenty healthy men participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover design study. Following normoxic cognitive/NVC testing, participants consumed either nitrate (NIT) or a NIT-depleted placebo (PLA). Participants then underwent 120 min of hypoxia (11.6% ± 0.1% O2) and all cognitive/NVC testing was repeated. NVC was assessed as change in middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood flow during a cognitive task (incongruent Stroop) using transcranial Doppler. Additional computerized cognitive testing was conducted separately to assess memory, executive function, attention, sensorimotor, and social cognition domains. Salivary nitrite significantly increased following supplementation in hypoxia for NIT (+2.6 ± 1.0 arbitrary units (AU)) compared with PLA (+0.2 ± 0.3 AU; p < 0.05). Memory performance (−6 ± 13 correct) significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in hypoxia while all other cognitive domains were unchanged in hypoxia for both PLA and NIT conditions (p > 0.05). MCA flow increased during Stroop similarly in normoxia (PLA +5 ± 6 cm·s−1, NIT +7 ± 7 cm·s−1) and hypoxia (PLA +5 ± 9 cm·s−1, NIT +6 ± 7 cm·s−1) (p < 0.05) and this increase was not altered by PLA or NIT (p > 0.05). In conclusion, acute hypoxia resulted in significant reductions in memory concomitant with preservation of executive function, attention, and sensorimotor function. Hypoxia had no effect on NVC. Acute NIT supplementation had no effect on NVC or cognitive performance in hypoxia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (09) ◽  
pp. 859-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håkan Hua ◽  
Magnus Emilsson ◽  
Kim Kähäri ◽  
Stephen Widén ◽  
Claes Möller ◽  
...  

Background: Health care professionals frequently meet employees with hearing impairment (HI) who experience difficulties at work. There are indications that the majority of these difficulties might be related to the presence of background noise. Moreover, research has also shown that high-level noise has a more detrimental effect on cognitive performance and self-rated disturbance in individuals with HI than low-level noise. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of different types of background noise on cognitive performance and perceived disturbance (PD) in employees with aided HI and normal hearing. Research Design: A mixed factorial design was conducted to examine the effect of noise in four experimental conditions. Study Sample: A total of 40 participants (21 men and 19 women) were recruited to take part in the study. The study sample consisted of employees with HI (n = 20) and normal hearing (n = 20). The group with HI had a mild-moderate sensorineural HI, and they were all frequent hearing-aid users. Intervention: The current study was conducted by using four general work-related tasks (mental arithmetic, orthographic decoding, phonological decoding, and serial recall) in four different background conditions: (1) quiet, (2) office noise at 56 dBA, (3) daycare noise at 73.5 dBA, and (4) traffic noise at 72.5 dBA. Reaction time and the proportion of correct answers in the working tasks were used as outcome measures of cognitive performance. The Borg CR-10 scale was used to assess PD. Data Collection and Analysis: Data collection occurred on two separate sessions, completed within 4 wk of each other. All tasks and experimental conditions were used in a counterbalanced order. Two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was performed to analyze the results. To examine interaction effects, pairwise t-tests were used. Pearson correlation coefficients between reaction time and proportion of correct answers, and cognitive performance and PD were also calculated to examine the possible correlation between the different variables. Results: No significant between-group or within-group differences in cognitive performance were observed across the four background conditions. Ratings of PD showed that both groups rated PD according to noise level, where higher noise level generated a higher PD. The present findings also demonstrated that the group with HI was more disturbed by higher than lower levels of noise (i.e., traffic and daycare setting compared with office setting). This pattern was observed consistently throughout four working tasks where the group with HI reported a significantly greater PD in the daycare and traffic settings compared with office noise. Conclusions: The present results demonstrate that background noise does not impair cognitive performance in nonauditory tasks in employees with HI and normal hearing, but that PD is affected to a greater extent in employees with HI during higher levels of background noise exposure. In addition, this study also supports previous studies regarding the detrimental effects that high-level noise has on employees with HI. Therefore, we emphasize the need of both self-rated and cognitive measurements in hearing care and occupational health services for both employees with normal hearing and HI.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Passell ◽  
Lauren Rutter ◽  
Heesu Kim ◽  
Luke S. Scheuer ◽  
Paolo Martini ◽  
...  

Mobile- and web-based psychological research are a valuable addition to the set of tools available for scientific study, reducing logistical barriers for research participation and allowing the recruitment of larger and more diverse participant groups. However, this comes at the cost of reduced control over the technology used by participants, which can introduce new sources of variability into study results. In this study, we examined differences in measured performance on timed and untimed cognitive tests between users of common digital devices in 59,587 (Study 1) and 3,818 (Study 2) visitors to TestMyBrain.org, a web-based cognitive testing platform. Controlling for age, sex, and cognitive performance on an untimed vocabulary test, users of mobile devices, particularly Android smartphones, showed significantly slower performance on tests of reaction time than users of laptop and desktop computers, suggesting that differences in device latency effect measured reaction times. Users of devices that differ in user interface (e.g. screen size, mouse vs. touchscreen) also show significant differences (p &lt; 0.001) in measured performance on tests requiring fast reactions or fine motor movements. By quantifying the contribution of device differences to measured cognitive performance in an online setting, we hope to improve the accuracy of mobile- and web-based cognitive assessments, allowing the strengths of these methods to be effectively used.


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