RESUMEN
A random sample of 1,350 persons aged 65 years and older in a rural community underwent cognitive screening as part of a survey to establish a population-based registry of dementing disorders. The screening battery included the neuropsychological tests of the assessment protocol used in the National Institute on Aging multicenter Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD). This paper reports a large body of normative neuropsychological data from this sample with members of relatively low socioeconomic status. Age, sex, and educational level were found to have statistically significant effects on test scores. The implications of these findings for the establishment of screening cutoff scores are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Envejecimiento/psicología , Escolaridad , Pruebas Neuropsicológicas/estadística & datos numéricos , Población Rural , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/diagnóstico , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/epidemiología , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Incidencia , Masculino , Pennsylvania/epidemiología , Valores de Referencia , Factores SexualesRESUMEN
This paper reports on a comparison of the two alternative tests of attention in the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a well-known cognitive screening tool. The two tests, serial subtraction by seven and backwards spelling of the word world, are often used interchangeably. In a large population-based sample, the two tests were found to be weakly associated with each other, with the former test appearing more difficult, although both were strongly associated with educational level. The authors discuss the implications of this finding in clinical and research settings, and make recommendations for more consistent use of the instrument.