Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-fxdwj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T22:14:55.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diagnostic utility of the NAB List Learning test in Alzheimer’s disease and amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

BRANDON E. GAVETT ,
SABRINA J. POON ,
AL OZONOFF ,
ANGELA L. JEFFERSON ,
ANIL K. NAIR ,
ROBERT C. GREEN  and
ROBERT A. STERN
BRANDON E. GAVETT
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
SABRINA J. POON
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
AL OZONOFF
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
ANGELA L. JEFFERSON
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
ANIL K. NAIR
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
ROBERT C. GREEN
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Medicine (Genetics Program), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
ROBERT A. STERN*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Robert A. Stern, Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical and Research Program, Boston University School of Medicine, Robinson 7800, 72 East Concord Street, Boston, MA 02118-2526. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Measures of episodic memory are often used to identify Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) List Learning test is a promising tool for the memory assessment of older adults due to its simplicity of administration, good psychometric properties, equivalent forms, and extensive normative data. This study examined the diagnostic utility of the NAB List Learning test for differentiating cognitively healthy, MCI, and AD groups. One hundred fifty-three participants (age: range, 57–94 years; M = 74 years; SD, 8 years; sex: 61% women) were diagnosed by a multidisciplinary consensus team as cognitively normal, amnestic MCI (aMCI; single and multiple domain), or AD, independent of NAB List Learning performance. In univariate analyses, receiver operating characteristics curve analyses were conducted for four demographically-corrected NAB List Learning variables. Additionally, multivariate ordinal logistic regression and fivefold cross-validation was used to create and validate a predictive model based on demographic variables and NAB List Learning test raw scores. At optimal cutoff scores, univariate sensitivity values ranged from .58 to .92 and univariate specificity values ranged from .52 to .97. Multivariate ordinal regression produced a model that classified individuals with 80% accuracy and good predictive power. (JINS, 2009, 15, 121–129.)

Keywords

DementiaSensitivity and specificityDifferential diagnosisNeuropsychologyNeuropsychological testsMemory
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 121 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © INS 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ashendorf, L., Jefferson, A.L., O’Connor, M.K., Chaisson, C., Green, R.C., & Stern, R.A. (2008). Trail Making Test errors in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23, 129–17.Google ScholarPubMed
Beekly, D.L., Ramos, E.M., Lee, W.W., Deitrich, W.D., Jacka, M.E., Wu, J., Hubbard, J.L., Koepsell, T.D., Morris, J.C., Kukull, W.A., and the NIA ADCs (2007). The National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Database: The Uniform Data Set. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 21, 249–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertolucci, P.H.F., Okamoto, I.H., Brucki, S.M.D., Siviero, M.O., Neto, J.T., & Ramos, L.R. (2001). Applicability of the CERAD neuropsychological battery to Brazilian elderly. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 59, 532–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blacker, D., Lee, H., Muzikansky, A., Martin, E.C., Tanzi, R., McArdle, J.J., Moss, M., & Albert, M. (2007). Neuropsychological measures in normal individuals that predict subsequent cognitive decline. Archives of Neurology, 64, 862–871.Google Scholar
Brandt, J. & Benedict, R.H.B. (2001). Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised. Professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Budson, A.E. & Price, B.H. (2005). Memory dysfunction. New England Journal of Medicine, 352, 692–699.Google Scholar
Dawes, R.M., Faust, D., & Meehl, P.E. (1989). Clinical versus actuarial judgment. Science, 243, 1668–1673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Jager, C.A., Hogervorst, E., Combrinck, M., & Budge, M.M. (2003). Sensitivity and specificity of neuropsychological tests for mild cognitive impairment, vascular cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Psychological Medicine, 33, 1039–1050.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delis, D.C., Kramer, J.H., Kaplan, E., & Ober, B.A. (1987). The California Verbal Learning Test. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Derrer, D.S., Howieson, D.B., Mueller, E.A., Camicioli, R.M., Sexton, G., & Kaye, J.A. (2001). Memory testing in dementia: How much is enough? Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 14, 1–6.Google Scholar
Efron, B. & Tibshirani, R.J. (1994). An introduction to the bootstrap. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folstein, M., Folstein, S.E., & McHugh, P.R. (1975). “Mini-Mental State.” A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grove, W.M., Zald, D.H., Lebow, B.S., Snitz, B.E., & Nelson, C. (2000). Clinical versus mechanical prediction: A meta-analysis. Psychological Assessment, 12, 19–30.Google Scholar
Ivanoiu, A., Adam, S., Van der Linden, M., Salmon, E., Juillerat, A., Mulligan, R., & Seron, X. (2005). Memory evaluation with a new cued recall test in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurology, 252, 47–55.Google Scholar
Jefferson, A.L., Wong, S., Bolen, E., Ozonoff, A., Green, R.C., & Stern, R.A. (2006). Cognitive correlates of HVOT performance differ between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and normal controls. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 405–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karrasch, M., Sinervä, E., Grönholm, P., Rinne, J., & Laine, M. (2005). CERAD test performances in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 111, 172–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuslansky, G., Katz, M., Verghese, J.Hall, C.B., Lapuerta, P., LaRuffa, G., & Lipton, R.B. (2004). Detecting dementia with the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19, 89–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D., & Stadlan, E.M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: Report of the NINCDS-ADRDS Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurology, 34, 939–944.Google Scholar
Morris, J.C. (1993). The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR): Current version and scoring rules. Neurology, 43, 2412–2414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morris, J.C., Heyman, A., Mohs, R.C., Hughes, J.P., van Belle, G., Fillenbaum, G., Mellits, E.D., & Clark, C. (1989). The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD). Part I. Clinical and neuropsychological assessment of Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology, 39, 1159–1165.Google Scholar
Morris, J.C., Weintraub, S., Chui, H.C., Cummings, J., Decarli, C., Ferris, S., Foster, N.L., Galasko, D., Graff-Radford, N., Peskind, E.R., Beekly, D., Ramos, E.M., & Kukull, W.A. (2006). The Uniform Data Set (UDS): Clinical and cognitive variables and descriptive data from Alzheimer disease centers. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 20, 210–216.Google Scholar
Rey, A. (1941). L’examen psychologie dans les cas d’encephalopathie traumatique. Archives de Psychologie, 28, 286–340.Google Scholar
Rey, A. (1964). L’examen clinique en psychologie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Salmon, D.P., Thomas, R.G., Pay, M.M., Booth, A., Hofstetter, C.R., Thal, L.J., & Katzman, R. (2002). Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed in very mildly impaired individuals. Neurology, 59, 1022–1028.Google Scholar
Schoenberg, M.R., Dawson, K.A., Duff, K., Patton, D., Scott, J.G., & Adams, R.L. (2006). Test performance and classification statistics for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test in selected clinical samples. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 693–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schrijnemaekers, A.M.C., de Jager, C.A., Hogervorst, E., & Budge, M.M. (2006). Cases with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease fail to benefit from repeated exposure to episodic memory tests as compared with controls, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 28, 438–455.Google Scholar
Stern, R.A. & White, T. (2003a). NAB Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation Manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Stern, R.A. & White, T. (2003b) Neuropsychological Assessment Battery. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1987) Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Wedding, D. & Faust, D. (1989). Clinical judgment and decision making in neuropsychology. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 4, 233–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
White, T. & Stern, R.A. (2003). Neuropsychological Assessment Battery: Psychometric and technical manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Winblad, B., Palmer, K., Kivipelto, M., Jelic, V., Fratiglioni, L., Wahlund, L.O., Nordberg, A., Backman, L., Albert, M., Almkvist, O., Arai, H., Basun, H., Blennow, K., de Leon, M., DeCarli, C., Erkinjuntti, T., Giacobini, E., Graff, C., Hardy, J., Jack, C., Jorm, A., Ritchie, K., van Duijn, C., Visser, P., & Petersen, R.C. (2004). Mild cognitive impairment – beyond controversies, towards a consensus: Report of the International Working Group on Mild Cognitive Impairment. Journal of Internal Medicine, 256, 240–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodard, J.L., Dorsett, E.S.W., Cooper, J.G., Hermann, B.P., & Sager, M.A. (2005). Development of a brief cognitive screen for mild cognitive impairment and neurocognitive disorder. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 12, 299–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Youden, W.J. (1950). Index for rating diagnostic tests. Cancer, 3, 32–35.Google Scholar