A normative study of lexical verbal fluency in an educationally-diverse elderly population.
OBJECTIVE
Lexical fluency tests are frequently used to assess language and executive function in clinical practice. We investigated the influences of age, gender, and education on lexical verbal fluency in an educationally-diverse, elderly Korean population and provided its' normative information.


METHODS
We administered the lexical verbal fluency test (LVFT) to 1676 community-dwelling, cognitively normal subjects aged 60 years or over.


RESULTS
In a stepwise linear regression analysis, education (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506) and age (B=-0.10, SE=0.01, standardized B=-0.15) had significant effects on LVFT scores (p<0.001), but gender did not (B=0.40, SE=0.02, standardized B=0.506, p>0.05). Education explained 28.5% of the total variance in LVFT scores, which was much larger than the variance explained by age (5.42%). Accordingly, we presented normative data of the LVFT stratified by age (60-69, 70-74, 75-79, and ≥80 years) and education (0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and ≥13 years).


CONCLUSIONS
The LVFT norms should provide clinically useful data for evaluating elderly people and help improve the interpretation of verbal fluency tasks and allow for greater diagnostic accuracy.
Department of Psychiatry, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Jinju, Republic of Korea.
Bong Jo
BJ
Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Jinju, Republic of Korea.
Cheol Soon
CS
Lee
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Byoung Hoon
BH
Oh
Department of Psychiatry, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Chang Hyung
CH
Hong
Department of Psychiatry, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
Kang Soo
KS
Lee
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Sang Joon
SJ
Son
Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea.
Changsu
C
Han
Department of Neurology, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea.
Moon Ho
MH
Park
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
Hyun-Ghang
HG
Jeong
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
Tae Hui
TH
Kim
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju, Republic of Korea.
Joon Hyuk
JH
Park
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea. ; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Ki Woong
KW
Kim
Age; Education; Elders; Korean; Lexical verbal fluency; Normative data