title: [The 5-word test in 37 depressed patients compared with 36 normal controls and 35 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with major depression (MD) express frequent memory complaints leading to consultations in memory clinics. The 5-word test (5WT) is a verbal memory test with semantic cueing, which has shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our objective was to evaluate memory performances of aged patients with MD compared with controls and AD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Characteristics of the 5WT were investigated in a sample of 37 patients with MD (66.8±7.5 years) compared with 36 normal controls (67.3±6.8 years) and 35 mild AD patients (67.5±6.1 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Duration of depression was 15.3±11.5 years. Memory complaints of MD patients were ancient (4.6±5.5 years) and severe (McNair memory questionnaire=47.6±20.7). The Total score of MD patients did not differ from controls but was greater than those of AD patients. Learning and Memory scores of MD patients were significantly lower than those of controls and significantly greater than those of AD patients. Forgetting rate between Learning and Memory scores was more important in AD (72.4%) than in controls (2.8%) and MD (13.6%). No intrusions were recorded in controls, three MD patients each made one intrusion, whereas 80% of AD patients made between one to six intrusions (mainly during cued delayed recall). Receiver operating characteristic curves determined the most significant cut-off scores of the Total score. It appeared easy to discriminate AD patients from controls (cut-off=9, sensitivity=94.3%, specificity=100%) or MD patients (cut-off=8, sensitivity=88.5%, specificity=89.2%) whereas it was more difficult to discriminate MD patients from controls (cut-off=10, specificity=88.9%, sensitivity=37.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MD patients had significant difficulties with the 5WT as compared to controls, without being of the magnitude of those observed in AD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 5WT allows a reliable evaluation of memory in MD patients. The presence of true memory deficits with the 5WT could not be ascribed to depression but to other pathological conditions. Consequently, further memory testing should be conducted.
authors.affiliation: Service de neuropsychologie, centre mémoire de ressources et de recherche de Lyon, hôpital neurologique, 59, boulevard Pinel, 69677 Bron cedex, France. bernard.croisile@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Croisile
authors.forename: J-L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Astier
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beaumont
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mollion
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003463:Cues; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning