Limitations of the Oral Trail Making Test in a mixed sample of older individuals.
The utility of the Oral Trail Making Test (OTMT), a motor and visual-free alternative to the traditional Trail Making Test, was examined in 86 older (> or =60 years old) medical inpatients and 30 healthy controls. The OTMT-Part B evidenced a moderate correlation with the MMSE, and individuals with medical conditions that affect cognition displayed a high failure rate (more than five errors or 300+s). Moderate education effects were present for the OTMT-Part B. Thus, the current study suggests caution when employing this test and the above noted cutoffs with older medical patients or those with lower levels of education.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014145:Trail Making Test