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- Title
ASSESSING PROCESSING SPEED AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN LOW EDUCATED OLDER ADULTS: THE USE OF THE FIVE DIGIT TEST IN PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER.
- Authors
de Paula, Jonas Jardim; de Ávila, Rafaela Teixeira; de Souza Costa, Danielle; de Moraes, Edgar Nunes; Bicalho, Maria Aparecida; Nicolato, Rodrigo; Corrêa, Humberto; Sedó, Manuel; Malloy-Diniz, Leandro Fernandes
- Abstract
Objective: Many studies suggest that executive dysfunction is a common characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and in elderly patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of this study is to evaluate the applicability of Five Digits Test (5D) in the assessment of executive functions in less educated older adults with pathological aging. Method: We studied a total of 114 subjects divided in four groups: 30 patients with AD, 30 patients with MCI, 24 patients with MDD and 30 community-dwelling normal aged controls (NAC). All subjects were submitted to the 5D. Results: The comparison of NAC and the mixed clinical group (AD + MCI + MDD) shows significant differences on the 5D both in speed and errors on 3rd (inhibition) and 4th (shifting) sections of the 5D. The ANOVA indicates significant differences for all measures, except for the total number of errors in the Decoding and Naming components of the 5D. The Post Hoc analysis indicates that in decoding (time), the NAC group performed better than AD and MDD but not MCI. MCI patients also performed better than AD. The analysis of components associated with executive functions of the 5D indicates that NAC outperformed AD and MDD in Inhibition (time) but only AD in Inhibition (errors) (p<0.016). The Shifting (time) of NAC was faster than MDD, but in the total errors of this component, NAC the group performed better than AD and MCI. Conclusions: Our results point to the efficiency of 5D in identifying executive dysfunctions in pathological aging in comparison with the normal aging process. This task shows great potential for use both in research and in clinical practices in countries as Brazil, where a great amount of the population is illiterate.
- Subjects
EXECUTIVE function; OLDER people; ALZHEIMER'S patients; MILD cognitive impairment; DEPRESSED persons; AGING
- Publication
Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 2011, Vol 8, Issue 6, p339
- ISSN
1724-4935
- Publication type
Article