Diagnostic Profiles of Patients Differentially Failing Executive Functioning Measures.
OBJECTIVE
Limited research exists to explain differential executive functioning impairment in clinical populations, particularly between the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and the Trail Making Test (TMT).


METHODS
The distribution of clinical diagnoses was examined in patients failing none, one, or both tasks, and executive task performance was compared among dementia-related diagnoses. Two hundred and sixty-six participants received evaluations through an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, which included executive tasks. Dementia-related diagnoses were established through consensus.


RESULTS
Chi-square analyses indicated that TMT failure, with or without WCST failure, possessed higher associations with dementia diagnoses. Repeated measures analysis of variance similarly indicated that participants with dementia, especially mild and moderate severity, performed worse on TMT.


CONCLUSIONS
Executive dysfunction was observed in dementia-related diagnoses, and TMT failure was implicated in dementia in higher proportions than WCST impairment. Trail Making Test appears more sensitive than WCST for assessing executive impairment across diagnoses, especially when time and resources are limited in screening and clinical settings.
Department of Neurology, Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging, and Research, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA dustin.hammers@hsc.utah.edu.
Dustin
D
Hammers
Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Gabriela
G
Ramirez
Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Carol
C
Persad
Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Neurology Service, VAAAHS, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Judith
J
Heidebrink
Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Neurology Service, VAAAHS, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Nancy
N
Barbas
Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Bruno
B
Giordani
D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
assessment; cognition; executive functioning; neuropsychology