Reliability of repeated cognitive assessment of dementia using a brief computerized battery

November 5, 2014

Authors: Dustin Hammers, Elizabeth Spurgeon, Kelly Ryan, Carol Persad, Judith Heidebrink, Nancy Barbas, Roger Albin, Kirk Frey, David Darby, Bruno Giordani

Journal: American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias

DOI: 10.1177/1533317511411907

Year Published: 2011

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term stability and reliability of a brief computerized cognitive battery in established dementia types.

Method:

Patients were administered the computerized battery twice with administrations approximately 2 hours apart, with intervening conventional neuropsychological tests. Patients were classified clinically, via consensus conference, as healthy controls (n = 23), mild cognitive impairment (n = 20), Alzheimer’s disease (n = 52), dementia with Lewy Bodies ([DLB], n = 10), or frontotemporal dementia (n = 9).

Results:

Minimal practice effects were evident across Cog-State test administrations. Small magnitude improvements were seen across all groups on a working memory task, and healthy controls showed a mild practice effect on the accuracy of associative learning.

Conclusions:

In established dementia, administration of the CogState tasks appears sensitive to cognitive impairment in dementia. Repeat administration also provided acceptable stability and test-retest reliability with minimal practice effects at short test-retest intervals despite intervening cognitive challenges.

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