Language impairment in Huntington's disease

Language alterations in Huntington's disease (HD) are reported, but their nature and correlation with other cognitive impairments are still under investigation. This study aimed to characterize the language disturbances in HD and to correlate them to motor and cognitive aspects of the disease. We studied 23 HD patients and 23 controls, matched for age and schooling, using the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination, Boston Naming Test, the Token Test, Animal fluency, Action fluency, FAS-COWA, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Stroop Test and the Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT). HD patients performed poorer in verbal fluency (p<0.0001), oral comprehension (p<0.0001), repetition (p<0.0001), oral agility (p<0.0001), reading comprehension (p=0.034) and narrative writing (p<0.0001). There was a moderate correlation between the Expressive Component and Language Competency Indexes and the HVOT (r=0.519, p=0.011 and r=0.450, p=0.031, respectively). Language alterations in HD seem to reflect a derangement in both frontostriatal and frontotemporal regions.

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Depressive symptoms and cognitive performance of the elderly: relationship between institutionalization and activity programs

Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1590/s1516-44462006000200008 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 118-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Mara Cristina F Plati ◽

Priscila Covre ◽

Katerina Lukasova ◽

Elizeu Coutinho de Macedo

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

The Elderly ◽

Elderly Subjects ◽

Boston Naming Test ◽

Visual Organization ◽

State Examination ◽

Naming Test ◽

Fluency Test

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of depressive symptoms and to evaluate cognitive performance of institutionalized versus non-institutionalized elderly subjects and to compare the effect of institutionalization and participation in the institution's activity programs on their cognitive performance. METHOD: A group of 120 elderly subjects with a mean age of 71 years and average schooling of 4.2 years was evaluated. The participants were divided into 3 groups: non-institutionalized (n = 37); institutionalized with activities (n = 37); institutionalized without activities (n = 46). The groups were matched for age, gender and educational level. The following assessment instruments were used: the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Verbal Fluency Test and the computerized versions of the Hooper Visual Organization Test and the Boston Naming Test. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and the Pearson's correlation test. RESULTS: The two groups of institutionalized elderly showed higher frequency of depressive symptoms when compared to non-institutionalized subjects and worse performance on the Verbal Fluency Test. The institutionalized group without activities had lower scores on Mental State Examination, Boston Naming Test and Hooper Visual Organization Test when compared to the other two groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Institutionalization of the elderly seems to be related to worse cognitive performance. Activity programs during institutionalization may be effective in minimizing cognitive functional loss.

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403 - Verbal fluency and spontaneous conversation in institutionalized older adults with and without cognitive impairment

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610220002562 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 32 (S1) ◽

pp. 119-119

Author(s):

Cristina G. Dumitrache ◽

Laura Rubio ◽

Nuria Calet ◽

José Andrés González ◽

Ian C. Simpson

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Mini Mental State Examination ◽

Short Form ◽

Boston Naming Test ◽

Global Deterioration Scale ◽

State Examination ◽

Naming Test

Background:Several neurodegenerative conditions negatively impact linguistics skills. Despite this, many studies carried out with these kinds of patients either only include participants with initial stages of cognitive impairment either do not contemplate linguistic skills, or they do assess language in clinical or experimental settings. Due to it this study aims at investigating verbal fluency and spontaneous conversation abilities in a group of institutionalized Spanish older adults with and without cognitive impairment.Method:The sample comprised 50 older adults who were residing in care homes from the province of Granada and with ages between 52 and 92 years old (M= 83.40, SD= 7.18). The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Global Deterioration Scale, and the Short Form of the Boston Naming Test for Individuals with Aphasia were used to collect data. In order to analyze the differences in verbal fluency and in spontaneous conversation between participants ANOVA analysis were performed.Results:Results showed that people without cognitive impairment or with initial stages of Parkinson’s’ disease showed a higher complexity in their spontaneous conversation and obtained higher scores in verbal fluency when compared with patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and with people with cognitive impairment but without a clinical diagnose. No significant differences were found between participants in word or sentence repetitions tasks.Conclusions:Language impairment in people with cognitive impairment has dramatic consequences, affecting people’s communication and social interaction, their identity and autonomy thus language skills should be assessed in institutionalized older adults with cognitive impairment and interventions should be designed to maintain their linguistic abilities.

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Spanish Multicenter Normative Studies (NEURONORMA Project): Norms for Boston Naming Test and Token Test

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acp039 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 343-354 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

J. Pena-Casanova ◽

S. Quinones-Ubeda ◽

N. Gramunt-Fombuena ◽

M. Aguilar ◽

L. Casas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boston Naming Test ◽

Token Test ◽

Naming Test

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A Meta-Analytic Review of Verbal Fluency Deficits in Huntington's Disease.

Neuropsychology ◽

10.1037/0894-4105.19.2.243 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 243-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Julie D. Henry ◽

John R. Crawford ◽

Louise H. Phillips

Keyword(s):

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Analytic Review

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Can a combination of two neuropsychological tests screen for mild neurocognitive disorder better than each test alone? A cross-sectional study

Middle East Current Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s43045-020-00048-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Reem Mohamed Sabry ELbedewy ◽

Mohamed ELOKL

Keyword(s):

Verbal Fluency ◽

Neurocognitive Disorder ◽

Boston Naming Test ◽

Clock Drawing Test ◽

Clock Drawing ◽

Neurocognitive Tests ◽

Drawing Test ◽

Neurocognitive Test ◽

Animal Category ◽

Naming Test

Abstract Background Early symptoms of dementia may not be apparent and are sometimes even concealed during short office visits initiated for other complaints. The aim of the study is to find out if the combined use of VF/CDT, VF/BNT, or CDT/BNT could improve the accuracy of detecting mild NCD in an outpatient setting, compared with either test used alone. Participants Community-dwelling older adults, attending the outpatient Geriatrics Clinic at Ain Shams University hospitals between June 1, 2017 and January 31, 2018. All participants received a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) which included the mini-mental state examination test. Participants with a score of less than 24 and fulfil DSM5 criteria for mild neurocognitive disorder (NCD) are considered cognitively impaired otherwise are considered normal. Then participants were further examined by the Arabic versions of CDT, BNT, and VF animal category. Results We recruited 143 male and female participants mean age 67.17 ± 5.41, females are 56.6%, and 48.9% of all participants have mild NCD according to DSM5 criteria. AUC for individual neurocognitive tests in illiterates is 0.893 for clock drawing test, 0.907 for verbal fluency animal category, and 0.904 for Boston naming test, while AUC for neurocognitive test combinations in illiterates is 0.932 for VF + CDT, 0.917 for VF + BNT, and 0.932 for BNT + CDT. On the other hand, AUC for individual neurocognitive tests in educated participants is 0.925 for clock drawing test, 0.921 for verbal fluency animal category, and 0.907 for Boston naming test, whereas AUC for neurocognitive test combinations in educated participants is 0.958 for VF + CDT, 0.963 for VF + BNT, and 0.953 for BNT + CDT. Conclusion From the current study, we can conclude that any of the studied combinations have better diagnostic accuracy (although small) than individual test in both literate and illiterate older adults.

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Semantic, phonologic, and verb fluency in Huntington's disease

Dementia & Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1590/s1980-57642008dn10400009 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 381-385 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Mariana Jardim Azambuja ◽

Monica Santoro Haddad ◽

Marcia Radanovic ◽

Egberto Reis Barbosa ◽

Letícia Lessa Mansur

Keyword(s):

Executive Functioning ◽

Huntington's Disease ◽

Huntington’S Disease ◽

Task Performance ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Frontal Lobe Dysfunction ◽

Semantic Fluency ◽

Verbal Fluency Task ◽

Usual Evaluation ◽

Fluency Task

Abstract Verbal fluency tasks have been identified as important indicators of executive functioning impairment in patients with frontal lobe dysfunction. Although the usual evaluation of this ability considers phonologic and semantic criteria, there is some evidence that fluency of verbs would be more sensitive in disclosing frontostriatal physiopathology since frontal regions primarily mediate retrieval of verbs. Huntington's disease usually affects these circuitries. Objective: To compare three types of verbal fluency task in the assessment of frontal-striatal dysfunction in HD subjects. Methods: We studied 26 Huntington's disease subjects, divided into two subgroups: mild (11) and moderate (15) along with 26 normal volunteers matched for age, gender and schooling, for three types of verbal fluency: phonologic fluency (F-A-S), semantic fluency and fluency of verbs. Results: Huntington's disease subjects showed a significant reduction in the number of words correctly generated in the three tasks when compared to the normal group. Both controls and Huntington's disease subjects showed a similar pattern of decreasing task performance with the greatest number of words being generated by semantic elicitation followed by verbs and lastly phonologic criteria. We did not find greater production of verbs compared with F-A-S and semantic conditions. Moreover, the fluency of verbs distinguished only the moderate group from controls. Conclusion: Our results indicated that phonologic and semantic fluency can be used to evaluate executive functioning, proving more sensitive than verb fluency. However, it is important to point out that the diverse presentations of Huntington's disease means that an extended sample is necessary for more consistent analysis of this issue.

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Differentiating illiteracy from Alzheimer's disease by using neuropsychological assessments

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610211001347 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (10) ◽

pp. 1560-1568 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jung-Hae Youn ◽

Maryse Siksou ◽

R. Scott Mackin ◽

Jung-Seok Choi ◽

Jeanyung Chey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Boston Naming Test ◽

Neuropsychological Measures ◽

Drawing Test ◽

Neuropsychological Assessments ◽

Learning Test ◽

Naming Test

ABSTRACTBackground: In Asia, where illiteracy rates are high, determining the degree to which neuropsychological measures can be used to identify cognitive impairment in illiterate elders is important. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using formal neuropsychological assessments to distinguish healthy illiterate elders from dementia patients.Methods: We compared the cognitive performance of healthy elders who were illiterate (illiterate NC, n = 25) with those who were literate (literate NC, n = 25), literate patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (literate AD, n = 25), and illiterate patients with mild AD (illiterate AD, n = 25). Neuropsychological measures included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the verbal fluency test, the Boston naming test, the Rosen drawing test, and the verbal learning test.Results: In the between-group analyses, the scores on all tests, except verbal fluency and recognition memory, were lower for illiterate NC compared to the literate NC. The scores on the MMSE, Boston naming test, Rosen drawing test, and immediate free recall could not distinguish the illiterate NC from literate AD. However, the scores on all tests, except the Rosen drawing test, could distinguish illiterate NC from illiterate AD. ROC analyses showed the same pattern of results. In addition, age-, sex-, and education-matched cut-off scores of all tests, except immediate recall and delayed recall trials of the verbal learning test, showed good specificities in participants who were illiterate compared to those in participants who were literate.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the impact of literacy on neuropsychological test performance is an important aspect of cognitive evaluations for elders who are illiterate.

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