title: Assessing the discriminant ability, reliability, and comparability of multiple short forms of the Boston Naming Test in an Alzheimer's disease center cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Boston Naming Test (BNT) is a commonly used neuropsychological test of confrontation naming that aids in determining the presence and severity of dysnomia. Many short versions of the original 60-item test have been developed and are routinely administered in clinical/research settings. Because of the common need to translate similar measures within and across studies, it is important to evaluate the operating characteristics and agreement of different BNT versions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed longitudinal data of research volunteers (n = 681) from the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Center longitudinal cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the notable exception of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) 15-item BNT, short forms were internally consistent and highly correlated with the full version; these measures varied by diagnosis and generally improved from normal to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia. All short forms retained the ability to discriminate between normal subjects and those with dementia. The ability to discriminate between normal and MCI subjects was less strong for the short forms than the full BNT, but they exhibited similar patterns. These results have important implications for researchers designing longitudinal studies, who must consider that the statistical properties of even closely related test forms may be quite different.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky., USA.
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katsumata
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.forename: Erin L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Abner
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Jicha
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caban-Holt
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kryscio
authors.forename: Frederick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Fardo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000849:Anomia / Q000209:etiology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity