title: Visuo-constructional functions in patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several recently proposed criteria for assessing cognitive disorder require measuring the cognitive domain of visuo-constructional function. The aims of the present study were to develop a new test (Vienna Visuo-constructional Test-VVT) measuring visuo-constructional functions and to determine the reliability and validity of the VVT in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We further examined age and sex effects and the psychometric quality of the VVT.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 76 healthy controls and 103 patients who were referred to the Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna for neurocognitive assessment. An administering and scoring system for the VVT was developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was found to range from 0.82 for the healthy control group to 0.93 for the total patient group. There was no sex effect, but age had a negative effect on VVT performance. The VVT successfully differentiated healthy controls from MCI patients, AD patients, and PD patients, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The VVT shows satisfactory validity and reliability and can be administered easily in clinical practice. It constitutes a new measure that can successfully be used to identify visuo-constructional problems in patients with cognitive dysfunction.
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1097, Vienna, Austria. Johann.Lehrner@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors: Johann
authors: J
authors: Lehrner
authors: Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Krakhofer
authors: Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Claus
authors: C
authors: Lamm
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Macher
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Doris
authors: D
authors: Moser
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Stefanie
authors: S
authors: Klug
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Dal-Bianco
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Walter
authors: W
authors: Pirker
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Eduard
authors: E
authors: Auff
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors: Gisela
authors: G
authors: Pusswald
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000377:Agnosia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003867:Depth Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D065854:Spatial Navigation
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Mild cognitive impairment (MCI); Parkinson’s disease; Visuo-constructional function