title: Verbal fluency patterns in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Verbal fluency patterns can assist in differential diagnosis during neuropsychological assessment and identify individuals at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). While evidence suggests that subjects with AD perform worse on category fluency than letter fluency tasks, the pattern in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is less well known.
  
  
  METHODS
  Performance on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) and Animal fluency was compared in control, amnestic MCI, non-amnestic MCI, and AD groups. The sample included 136 participants matched for age, education, and gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both MCI groups performed similarly with a category > letter fluency pattern rather than a category < letter fluency pattern typically observed in AD. The pattern in MCI, albeit relatively more impaired than in controls, was more similar to healthy controls who exhibited a category > letter fluency pattern.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MCI using a category < letter fluency pattern may not represent AD; however, future research requires longitudinal studies of pattern analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla., USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rinehardt
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eichstaedt
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Schinka
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Loewenstein
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mattingly
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fils
authors.forename: Ranjan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duara
authors.forename: Mike R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Schoenberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007807:Language Tests; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior