Impaired generation of new subcategories and switching in a semantic verbal fluency test in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

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.

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Developing a Persian Verbal Fluency Test and Comparing the Results Between Healthy Persian Speakers and Persian Speakers Patients With Alzheimer Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Iranian Rehabilitation Journal ◽

10.32598/irj.19.4.1518.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 387-398

Author(s):

Ahmad Reza Khatoonabadi ◽

◽

Mahshid Aghajanzadeh ◽

Saman Maroufizadeh ◽

Zahra Vahabi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Alzheimer Disease ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Normal Group ◽

Semantic Fluency ◽

Verbal Fluency Test ◽

Semantic Categories ◽

Cognitively Intact ◽

Fluency Test

Objectives: Phonemic and semantic fluency tasks are used for verbal fluency (VF) evaluation. The present study aimed to select the most appropriate semantic categories and the most frequent phonemes of Persian as items for the VF test. Then, we determine the test results in differentiation between cognitively intact people and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer Disease (AD). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 people (60 cognitively intact, 30 with AD, and 30 with MCI) in two phases. In phase one, linguists determine the most frequent phonemes at the beginning of Persian words and the most frequent semantic categories based on a survey. In phase two, the verbal fluency test was administered to cognitively intact people and those with cognitive impairment (patients with AD and MCI). One-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression were used for statistical analysis. Results: The normal subjects scored significantly higher in all phonemic and semantic fluency tasks than the patients with AD and people with MCI (P<0.05). Regarding the phonemic VF task, the phonemes /sh/, /s/, and then /a/ were better in differentiating the MCI and AD groups from the normal group. Regarding the semantic VF task, the animals’ category was better differentiated the MCI and AD groups from the normal group. Discussion: Comparing frequent phonemes and semantic categories of Persian across three groups of normal, AD, and MCI showed that some phonemes and semantic categories can be more differentiating in the VF task. However, it is a preliminary validation study, and this topic needs more investigation in the future.

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Semantic Relations in a Categorical Verbal Fluency Test: An Exploratory Investigation in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02797 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Davide Quaranta ◽

Chiara Piccininni ◽

Alessia Caprara ◽

Alessia Malandrino ◽

Guido Gainotti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Semantic Relations ◽

Verbal Fluency Test ◽

Exploratory Investigation ◽

Fluency Test

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Clustering and switching during a semantic verbal fluency test contribute to differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment

Neuroscience Bulletin ◽

10.1007/s12264-013-1301-7 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 75-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Qianhua Zhao ◽

Qihao Guo ◽

Zhen Hong

Keyword(s):

Differential Diagnosis ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Verbal Fluency Test ◽

Semantic Verbal Fluency ◽

Fluency Test

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Graph analysis of verbal fluency test discriminate between patients with Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment and normal elderly controls

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2014.00185 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Laiss Bertola ◽

NatÃ¡lia B. Mota ◽

Mauro Copelli ◽

Thiago Rivero ◽

Breno Satler Diniz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Graph Analysis ◽

Verbal Fluency Test ◽

Fluency Test

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

Geriatrics and Gerontology International ◽

10.1111/ggi.14230 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hiroyuki Umegaki ◽

Yusuke Suzuki

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Verbal Fluency Test ◽

Fluency Test

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Effect of Brain Training Game on Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in Older Adults

10.53350/pjmhs211592272 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (9) ◽

pp. 2272-2275

Author(s):

Hafsah Arshad ◽

Kinza Anwar ◽

Hafsah Gul Khattak ◽

Imran Amjad ◽

Yaser Majeed

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Cognitive Assessment ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Montreal Cognitive Assessment ◽

Brain Training ◽

Neurocognitive Functions

Aim: To determine effects of Kinect- based games on neurocognitive functions in older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Methodology: A quasi experimental pre-post trail was conducted on 18 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) older adults. The subjects were recruited to access cognitive impairment through purposive sampling technique. The inclusion criteria were elderly aged ≥ 50 years, both genders, able to read and write, whereas older adults with severe cognitive impairments, neurological disorders and un controlled comorbidities were excluded. Brain training was provided for 30 minutes with 5-minute warm-up time and 5-minute cool-down time for 6 weeks. Blind assessor measured readings at baseline and after six weeks. The outcome measures were Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA), Trail making test A & B and verbal fluency test (Semantic &Phonemic). The data was analyzed at baseline and after six weeks of intervention Results: Significant improvements were observed in post-test measurements (p <0.05) in MMSE, MoCA, TMT A & B and verbal fluency (Semantic &Phonemic) tests after 6 weeks of treatment. Conclusion: Kinect-based virtual reality games are beneficial in improving cognitive abilities of older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Keywords: Cognitive training, Mild cognitive impairment, Montreal Cognitive Assessment

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Effects of educational background on verbal fluency task performance in older adults with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610210000839 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 995-1002 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Naoko Kawano ◽

Hiroyuki Umegaki ◽

Yusuke Suzuki ◽

Sayaka Yamamoto ◽

Nanaka Mogi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Test Scores ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Educational Background ◽

Cognitive State ◽

Category Fluency ◽

Fluency Task ◽

Fluency Test

ABSTRACTBackground: Previous studies have shown that the verbal fluency test (VFT) is a sensitive measure of cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, other studies have shown that the performances were significantly influenced by education in the normal elderly population. In order to examine the utility of the VFT as a tool for screening for AD, it is necessary to study the effect of education not only in the cognitively intact population but also in the population of early AD patients.Methods: Patients with AD (n = 345) and individuals with amnestic type of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 123) were asked to generate as many words as possible belonging to a category “animal” and beginning with “か [ka]” in syllabic Japanese “kana” script. In order to determine the education effect after adjusting for age and cognitive state on the VFT performance in early stage of AD, we performed multiple regression analysis with 396 individuals including both amnestic MCI and AD.Results: After adjusting for patients’ age, sex, and cognitive state, the years of education were significantly related to category fluency test scores, but not significantly related to letter fluency test scores.Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that a category fluency performance reflected not only AD-specific changes but also educational background. These results suggest the limitation of using the category fluency task for screening subjects at risk for developing AD without taking subjects' educational background into consideration.

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