BACKGROUND: The Korean-Boston Naming Test (K-BNT) is a popular measure of the confrontational naming ability. It is particularly sensitive to the early cognitive changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Vascular dementia (VaD). The current study was conducted to develop parallel short forms for the K-BNT used in repeated assessments as well as in situations where the administration of the complete K-BNT is not practical. METHODS: Four 15-item short forms were newly constructed based on the item difficulties of the K-BNT measured from 565 normal elderly aged over 55. The K-BNT was administered to 130 dementia patients (75 AD, 55 VaD) and 130 healthy community-dwelling elderly whose age, sex, and education level were matched with the dementia patients. Scores for the short forms were derived by dividing up the items of the K-BNT. RESULTS: On each short form, normal elderly performed better than dementia patients, and scores on each could be extrapolated to a complete 60-item K-BNT score. Significant correlations were found between short forms and the K-BNT. To compare the probabilities of correctly identifying dementia, the areas under Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves of each form and the K-BNT were compared. It was found that all the short forms were as efficient as the 60-item K-BNT in identifying dementia. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that the four 15-item short forms developed in the current study are parallel and valid as the short forms of the K-BNT.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Dementia, Vascular ; Education ; Humans ; ROC Curve

The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975) is a quick and easy measure of cognitive functioning that has been widely used in clinical evaluation and research involving patients with dementia. The present study was conducted to examine the validity of the newly constructed Korean version of the MMSE (K-MMSE) in dementia patients. The K-MMSE was administered to 84 patients with Alzheimer's a disease, 64 patients with vascular dementia, and 23 patients with a diagnosis of pseudo-dementia. The result showed that of the cognitive components of the K-MMSE, Orientation, Attention and Calculaton, Recall, and Visual Construction are impaired in dementia patients. The sensitivities of the K-MMSE in detecting dementia were .70-83. Factor analysis indicated that the multiple cognitive components of the K-MMSE can he explained by one or two factors. The K-MMSE was also highly correlated with another brief measure of cognitive functioning, the Blessed Orientation Memory-Information(r=.78). The result, however, further suggested that the K-MMSE is relatively insensitive to detect the early stage of dementia, causing an increase in false negatives.
Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Diagnosis ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was performed to newly develop the Way-Finding Ability Scale (WFAS) for middle-aged and older adults and validate its clinical utility. METHODS: The participants for verifying construct validity included 324 adults aged from 45 to 79 years, and 22 normal old adults without way-finding deficit (WFD), 41 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 35 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD-MCI) for verifying discriminant validity. All participants were administered the newly constructed 28-item WFAS. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis of the WFAS revealed a four-factor solution (sense of direction and inattention, spatial learning and memory, strategic ability, and cardinal direction). This four-factor structure was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The discriminant validity was examined by administering the WFAS to normal older adults and two patient groups (aMCI & PD-MCI). The results showed that the total scores of two patient groups were lower than that of normal older adults. The patients with WFD had significantly lower total scores than those without WFD. Interestingly, the total scores of patients without WFD were significantly lower than those of normal older adults suggesting that the cognitive functions associated with way-finding ability (WFA) were partially impaired in aMCI and PD-MCI patients without apparent WFD. The patients with WFD had consistently lower scores in every four-factor than those without WFD. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that the WFAS assesses the WFD reliably as well as estimates the degree of decline in WFA.
Adult* ; Cognition ; Humans ; Memory ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Parkinson Disease ; Spatial Learning

BACKGROUND: O'Bryant et al. (2008) argued that the CDR Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) can be used to distinguish MCI from very early dementia in patients with CDR-GS of 0.5. They reported that the optimal CDR-SB cut-off score was 2.5. The present study was conducted to examine whether the subgroups classified with CDR-SB scores showed the corresponding group differences on the cognitive tests. METHODS: The subjects were 45 amnestic multi-domain MCI (amMCI) and 53 vascular MCI (VaMCI) with CDR-GS of 0.5. Each patient group was classified into "mild (0.5-2.0)" and "severe (2.5-4.0)" subgroups based on the CDR-SB. As the result, 4 groups were formed such as mild amMCI (n=23), severe amMCI (n=22), mild VaMCI (n=29), and severe VaMCI (n=24). The subjects were given the MMSE, HDS-R, and MoCA. The MANCOVA was conducted separately for each test with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Severe groups of both amMCI and VaMCI showed significantly lower performances than two mild groups in MMSE, HDS-R, and MoCA. It was found that "serial 100-7" was a good item to discriminate between the mild and severe groups in both amMCI and VaMCI. Items measuring "orientation" or "naming" showed significant subgroup differences in the amMCI, whereas items related to "memory," "visuospatial construction," or "frontal/executive function" showed significant subgroup differences in the VaMCI. CONCLUSION: These results showed that there were significant differences in cognitive functions between the two subgroups with CDR-GS of 0.5. The results about the items discriminating between subgroups in amMCI and VaMCI were consistent with the previous findings about the progression of cognitive impairments in AD and VaD. Therefore, these results support the use of CDR-SB as a guideline for distinguishing MCI from early dementia.
Dementia ; Humans ; Methylenebis(chloroaniline)* ; Mild Cognitive Impairment*

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The brief version of the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB), the SNSB-Core (SNSB-C), has been developed. Although each subtest score of the SNSB-C provides information on different features of broad cognitive functioning or impairment, a composite score is needed to identify the severity of global cognitive impairment. We aimed to develop and validate a composite score of the SNSB-C that would provide a normative-based summary score of global cognitive functioning, especially for differentiating patients with cognitive impairment from normal elderly. METHODS: A normative sample of 1067 elderly was used to develop a composite score of SNSB-C. The composite score was corrected for the effects of age, years of education, and sex by the regression method. Patients with Alzheimer's disease (n=41), vascular dementia (n=40), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n=73), vascular MCI (n=41), and Parkinson's disease with MCI (n=41) were differentiated from a normal sample (n=70) by the uncorrected and corrected composite scores using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the composite score equal weight to each standardized cognitive domain of SNSB-C is appropriate for indexing overall cognitive functioning. The corrected and uncorrected composite scores yielded a satisfactory size of the area under the ROC curve comparable to the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). CONCLUSIONS: The composite scores of SNSB-C, especially the corrected score, provide an index of overall cognitive functioning, and they can be used as an alternative to MMSE for screening patients with cognitive impairment.
Abstracting and Indexing as Topic ; Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia, Vascular ; Education ; Humans ; Mass Screening* ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Parkinson Disease ; ROC Curve ; Seoul*

Background: Evaluating the activities of daily living (ADL) is an important factor for diagnosing dementia. The Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale was developed to measure ADL changes that were correlated with specific neuropsychological impairments. A short form of the ECog (ECog-12) was also developed, consisting of 12 items, two from each of the six cognitive domains of the ECog. The Korean full version of ECog (K-ECog) has recently been standardized, but the need for a shortened version has been raised in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of ECog-12 (K-ECog-12) and to verify its reliability and validity by comparing those to the full version of K-ECog. Methods: The participants were 267 cognitively normal older adults (CN), 183 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 89 patients with dementia. The Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), Korean-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (K-MoCA), and Short form of Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS) were administered to all participants. The K-ECog and Korean-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (K-IADL) were rated by the informants of patients. Results: K-ECog-12 was newly constructed by replacing one item for the visuospatial function in the original ECog-12 with another one through an item response theory analysis on Korean data. The internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α) of K-ECog-12 and K-ECog were 0.95 and 0.99, respectively. The test–retest reliabilities (Pearson’s r) were 0.67 for K-ECog-12 and 0.73 for K-ECog. The K-ECog-12 was significantly correlated with K-ECog as well as K-IADL, K-MMSE, and K-MoCA. The K-ECog-12 scores differed significantly between the CN, MCI, and dementia groups, as did the K-ECog scores. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that K-ECog-12, like K-ECog, could differentiate MCI and dementia patients from CN as well. Conclusion The K-ECog-12 is as reliable and valid as the K-ECog in assessing ADL.Therefore, K-ECog-12 can be used as an alternative to the K-ECog in clinical and community settings in Korea.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to examine the effects of normal aging and cerebral pathology on the prospective memory and the relationships between the prospective memory and frontal lobe functions. METHODS: The subjects were 30 college students, 30 normal elderly, and 30 Parkinson's disease patients. There was no significant difference in the mean age or education level between the normal elderly and Parkinson's disease patients. The Cambridge Prospective Memory Test and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire were administered to evaluate the prospective memory. The Seoul Verbal Learning Test and Rey Complex Figure Test were given to assess the verbal and visual episodic memories. The subjects also took the Sorting Test, the Korean-Color Word Stroop Test, and the Iowa Gambling Task to assess the frontal lobe functions. RESULTS: The results showed that the prospective memory declines with aging and pathological process. The normal elderly showed significantly lower scores on the time-based prospective memory than the event-based prospective memory, although the college students and Parkinson's disease patients did not show any differences between them. Many significant correlations were found between the prospective memory tests and frontal lobe tests in the normal elderly and Parkinson's disease patients, although only a few correlations were found in the college students. CONCLUSIONS: These quantitative and qualitative changes in the prospective memory by aging and frontal lobe dysfunction would support the de-differentiation hypothesis of aging.
Aged ; Aging ; Frontal Lobe ; Gambling ; Humans ; Iowa ; Memory ; Memory, Episodic ; Parkinson Disease ; Stroop Test ; Verbal Learning

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE: Ideomotor apraxia is a gestural deficit which is not due to primary sensory or motor deficit, poor auditory comprehension or incooperation. Previous studies on apraxia in AD patients include advanced AD patients who exhibited marked impairment in auditory comprehension, This might have confounded the results of the studies. The purpose of this study is to observe the frequencies and patterns of gestural errors in the early stage of AD. METHOD: Eighteen patients with AD (M : F = 4 : 14, age 62.6 + 7.2) and eighteen age- and sex- matched controls participated in this research. Patients who scored below 80 % of Western Aphasia Battery comprehension subtest and showed marked cognitive impairments were excluded (MMSE; 19.9 + 4.4, CDR 1.1+/- 0.5). Gestures. In response to commands were videotaped and analyzed by 2 neurologists and 1 speech-language pathologist. Test items included 3 types of movements ; 10 limb intrasitive, 15 transitive, and 10 buccofacial. RESULTS: Limb transitive movements were the most affected while buccofacial was the least. The error patterns most frequently observed were body-part-as-objects (BPO, 20%), external configuration orientation (ECO, 16%), and movement error(M, 9%). In comparision, BPO, ECO, M errors in normal control were 2%, 3%, and 4% respectively. In addition, apraxia item, which are to detecting AD were identified. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the apraxia is commonly associated with AD even in the early stage of the disease and an accurate anaIysis of errors may contribute to establishing an early diagnosis of AD.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Aphasia ; Apraxia, Ideomotor* ; Apraxias ; Comprehension ; Early Diagnosis ; Extremities ; Gestures ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Many literatures indicate that executive dysfunction exists in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as well as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, there are few studies that found how early the deficits of the executive function (EF) exist in MCI. The present study investigated the presence of executive dysfunctions in the earliest stage of MCI, and the sub-domains of EF which are disproportionately impaired earlier than others. METHODS: The participants were 41 normal elderly (NE), 86 with amnestic multi-domain MCI, and 41 with mild AD. The MCI group was further sub-divided into two groups: Early MCI (EMCI, n=45) and late MCI (n=41), based on the Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes. All participants were given neuropsychological tests to assess the sub-domains of EF, such as verbal fluency, psychomotor speed, inhibitory control, and mental set-shifting. RESULTS: Impairment of semantic fluency was observed in EMCI, with gradual worsening as cases approached mild AD. Phonemic fluency and psychomotor speed were also impaired at the early stage of MCI relative to the NE, but maintained at the same level up to mild AD. EMCI exhibited the same degree of performance with NE for inhibitory control and mental set-shifting; however, they progressively worsened from EMCI to mild AD. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that impairments of EF exist even in the earliest stage of the MCI, with a disproportionate decline in the sub-domains of EF.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Dementia ; Executive Function* ; Humans ; Mild Cognitive Impairment* ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Semantics

Background: and Purpose: Everyday Cognition (ECog) has been widely used to differentiate individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia from normal elderly individuals. It has also been used to assess subjective cognitive decline (SCD). This study investigated the feasibility of using ECog as a screening measure for SCD in communitydwelling elderly individuals. Methods: The participants included 84 older adults with and 93 without SCD living in the community. These 2 groups were classified based on their response (“yes” or “no”) to the question “Do you perceive memory or cognitive difficulties?” All participants were evaluated using the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), Short form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS), and the Korean version of Everyday Cognition (K-ECog). Results: The scores of all participants were within the normal range on the K-MMSE and SGDS. The total K-MMSE score did not differ significantly between the 2 groups after controlling for age, education, and depression. The scores of SCD group were significantly higher than those of the non-SCD group for memory, language, and executive function:planning domains, as well as K-ECog total score. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the K-ECog total score was effective in moderately differentiating between subjects with and without SCD (area under the curve: 0.73). Conclusions ECog is a feasible and useful screening measure for SCD in older adults living in the community, and can be used to assess the full spectrum of cognitive and functional deficits, ranging from SCD to MCI and dementia.