Trail Making Test Errors in Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Dementia

Overview

Journal Arch Clin Neuropsychol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialties Neurology
Psychology

Date 2008 Jan 8

PMID 18178372

Citations 144

Authors

Lee Ashendorf

Angela L Jefferson

Maureen K OConnor

Christine Chaisson

Robert C Green

Robert A Stern

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to provide normative data for Trail Making Test (TMT) time to completion and performance errors among cognitively normal older adults, and to examine TMT error rates in conjunction with time scores for pre-clinical and clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnostic decision-making. A sample of 526 individuals was classified into three diagnostic groups (normal controls, N=269; mild cognitive impairment, MCI, N=200; AD, N=57) by a multidisciplinary consensus conference. Results indicated that performance differed among the three groups for TMT A and B time scores as well as TMT B error rate. Diagnostic classification accuracy (i.e., sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive powers) is described for various combinations of the diagnostic groups. The findings show that TMT B time and errors are independently meaningful scores, and both therefore have clinical utility in assessing individuals referred for dementia evaluations.

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