title: Verbal Fluency and Early Memory Decline: Results from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention.
abstract: This study examined the relationship between phonemic and semantic (category) verbal fluency and cognitive status in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention (WRAP), a longitudinal cohort enriched for family history of Alzheimer's disease. Participants were 283 WRAP subjects (age 53.1[6.5] years at baseline); who had completed three waves of assessment, over ∼6 years and met psychometric criteria either for "cognitively healthy" (CH) or for psychometric amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) using an approach that did not consider fluency scores. CH and aMCI groups differed significantly on phonemic total scores, category total scores, phonemic switching, and category mean cluster size. These results suggest that measures of both phonemic and semantic fluency yield lower scores in persons with evidence of psychometric aMCI compared with those who are CH. Differences have not previously been reported in a group this young, and provide evidence for the importance of including multiple verbal fluency tests targeting preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly Diggle
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Koscik
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Asenath
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: LaRue
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsay R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, William S. Middleton Memorial VA Hospital, Madison, WI, USA Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA scj@medicine.wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Sterling C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sager
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D012042:Registries; D012660:Semantics
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Fluency (verbal); Language and language disorders; Learning and memory; Mild cognitive impairment