title: Neuropsychological characterization of patients with the WMT dementia profile.
abstract: The "dementia profile" is used to reduce false positives on the Word Memory Test (WMT). Provided that this profile reflects genuine memory impairment, corresponding cognitive deficits should be found in neuropsychological testing. We examined whether a WMT dementia profile is a significant indicator of cognitive impairment and/or decline. In addition, we evaluated the classification accuracy for the clinical diagnosis of dementia. Elderly patients (n = 167) with cognitive complaints were given an extensive neuropsychological test battery, including the WMT. This was repeated 2 years later. The results demonstrate that patients with the dementia profile have a higher chance of showing real cognitive impairment at baseline, and even more so 2 years later. They showed a faster cognitive decline than patients who passed the WMT effort subtasks. Sensitivity of the profile was a moderate 60%. However, the positive predictive value was high, viz. 81% at baseline and 93% at follow-up.
authors: Department of Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.rienstra@uva.nl
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Rienstra
authors: Michelle
authors: M
authors: Klein Twennaar
authors: Ben
authors: B
authors: Schmand
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: Classification accuracy; Cognitive impairment; Effort testing; Symptom validity; Word Memory Test