title: Cognitive performance on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale: effect of education.
abstract: The cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog) is used to monitor disease progression and treatment efficacy in clinical trials of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using data from a 12-week drug trial, we retrospectively studied the effect of education on ADAS-Cog performance in a group of 444 patients with AD. The effect of education was statistically significant on baseline ADAS-Cog total scores. This effect remained statistically significant after controlling for age, gender, and dementia severity. Education effects were also statistically significant at week 12 for ADAS-Cog total and 10 of 11 subitem scores in 138 AD patients in the placebo arm of the trial. Post hoc analysis showed that non-high school graduates performed worse than those with greater educational levels across a broad range of cognitive domains. Our results, in conjunction with reports linking lower educational level with a higher risk for AD, suggest that educational level of patients be given consideration in the design and interpretation of cognitive tests in AD drug trials.
authors.affiliation: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Doraiswamy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krishen
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stallone
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Potts
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Metz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeVeaugh-Geiss
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests