gms | German Medical Science

MAINZ//2011: 56. GMDS-Jahrestagung und 6. DGEpi-Jahrestagung

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e. V.

26. - 29.09.2011 in Mainz

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The assessment of changes in cognitive functioning: Age-, education-, and gender-specific Reliable Change Indices (RCIs) for older adults tested on the CERAD-NP battery. Results of the German Study on Ageing, Cognition and Dementia in Primary Care Patients (AgeCoDe)

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  • Janine Stein - Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, Public Health Research Unit, University of Leipzig, Leipzig
  • Melanie Luppa - Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, Public Health Research Unit, University of Leipzig, Leipzig
  • Tobias Luck - Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, Public Health Research Unit, University of Leipzig, Leipzig
  • Wolfgang Maier - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn
  • Hendrik van den Bussche - Institute of Primary Medical Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg
  • Martin Scherer - Institute of Primary Medical Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg
  • Horst Bickel - Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, Munich
  • Siegfried Weyerer - Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Mannheim
  • Michael Pentzek - Department of General Practice, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
  • Birgitt Wiese - Institute for Biometrics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover
  • Hans-Helmut Koenig - Department of Medical Sociology and Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg
  • Steffi G. Riedel-Heller - Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig

Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds233

doi: 10.3205/11gmds233, urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds2331

Published: September 20, 2011

© 2011 Stein et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Background/Aims: The diagnosis of dementia requires reliable evidence about decline in cognitive functioning over time. The CERAD-NP battery represents a commonly used neuropsychological instrument to measure cognitive functioning in the elderly. Normative data for changes in cognitive function that normally occur in cognitively healthy individuals is crucial to interpret changes in CERAD-NP test scores.

Methods: As part of the German Study on Ageing, Cognition and Dementia in Primary Care Patients (AgeCoDe Study), a sample of 1,450 cognitively healthy individuals, aged 75 years and older, was assessed three times at 1.5 year intervals over a period of 3 years using selected subtests of the CERAD-NP battery. Age-, education-, and gender-specific Reliable Change Indices (RCIs) were computed for a 90% confidence interval.

Results: Across different age, education and gender subgroups, changes from at least 6 to 9 points in Verbal Fluency, 4 to 8 points in Word List Memory, 2 to 4 points in Word List Recall and 1 to 4 points in Word List Recognition indicated significant (i.e. reliable) changes in CERAD-NP test scores at the 90% confidence level.

Conclusion: Smaller changes in CERAD-NP test scores can be interpreted only with high uncertainty because of probable measurement error, practice effects and normal age-related cognitive decline. This study provides age-, education-, and gender-specific CERAD-NP reference values for the interpretation of cognitive changes in older age groups.