title: Handwriting process variables discriminating mild Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: This study's aims were (a) to examine kinematically the handwriting process of persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), compared with those with mild Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls; (b) to assess the importance of these measures for the differentiation of the groups; and (c) to assess characteristics of the handwriting process across different functional tasks. Thirty-one persons with MCI, 22 with mild Alzheimer's disease, and 41 healthy controls performed functional tasks while using a computerized system. We found significant differences between the groups in almost all measures, with the MCI group assuming a position between the other groups. Temporal measures were higher and pressure was lower in more cognitively deteriorated groups. Information gathered about kinematic measures, together with cognitive functioning, allowed us to classify 69% to 72% of the participants correctly, although the classification for the MCI group was relatively poor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. werner@research.haifa.ac.il
authors.forename: Perla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.forename: Gady
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bar-On
authors.forename: Jeremia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heinik
authors.forename: Amos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korczyn
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index