Title
Prevalence of low scores on language tests as a potential factor in misdiagnosis of cognitive impairment in a Spanish-speaking adult population
Date Issued
01 January 2022
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
research article
Author(s)
Olabarrieta-Landa L.
Ramos Usuga D.
Rivera D.
Leal G.
Bailey K.C.
Calderón Chagualá A.
Rabago B.
Mascialino G.
Arango-Lasprilla J.C.
Abstract
Objective: In this study, the prevalence of low scores for two neuropsychological tests of language has been determined. Methods: In total, N = 5218 healthy adults from 11 countries in Latin America (LA) were administered the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Z-scores were calculated for BNT Total score, and phonological (letters F, A, S, M) and semantic (Animals, Fruits). Scores were adjusted for age, age2, sex, education, and interaction variables if significant for the given country. Each Z-score was converted to a percentile for each of the seven test-scores. Each participant was categorized based on his/her number of low scoring tests in specific percentile cutoff groups (25th, 16th, 10th, 5th, and 2nd). Results: Between 53% (Paraguay) and 71% (Mexico) of the sample had at least 1-score below the 25th percentile, and between 41% (Paraguay) and 55% (Cuba) scored below the 16th percentile. Between 27% (Paraguay) and 39% (Peru) scored below the 10th percentile on at least 1-score, and between 17% (Chile) and 23% (Argentina) scored below the 5th percentile. Conclusions: Clinicians should use these data to reduce false-positive diagnoses and to improve the neuropsychological assessments in Spanish-speaking individuals from LA countries.
Start page
41
End page
52
Volume
29
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Neurociencias
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85077200739
PubMed ID
Source
Applied Neuropsychology:Adult
ISSN of the container
23279095
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus