Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2010 Aug;22(5):785-94. doi: 10.1017/S1041610209991657. Epub 2010 Jan 28.
There is increasing interest in identifying novel cognitive paradigms to help detect preclinical dementia. Promising results have been found in clinical settings using the Semantic Interference Test (SIT), a modification of an existing episodic memory test (Fuld Object Memory Evaluation) that exploits vulnerability to semantic interference in Alzheimer's disease. It is not yet known how broadly this work will generalize to the community at large.
Participants aged > or = 65 years from the Monongahela-Youghiogheny Healthy Aging Team (MYHAT) were administered the SIT at study entry. Independent of neuropsychological assessment, participants were rated on the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, based on reported loss of cognitively driven everyday functioning. In individuals free of dementia (CDR < 1), the concurrent validity of the SIT was assessed by determining its association with CDR using multiple logistic regression models, with CDR 0 (no dementia) vs. 0.5 (possible dementia) as the outcome and the SIT test variables as predictors.
Poorer performance on all SIT variables but one was associated with higher CDR reflecting possible dementia (Odds Ratios 2.24-4.79). Younger age and female gender also conferred a performance advantage. Years of education and reading ability (a proxy for quality of education) evidenced a very weak association with SIT performance.
The SIT shows promise as a valid, novel measure to identify early preclinical dementia in a community setting. It has potential utility for assessment of persons who may be illiterate or of low education. Finally, we provide normative SIT data stratified by age which may be utilized by clinicians or researchers in future investigations.
人们越来越感兴趣的是识别新的认知范式，以帮助发现临床前痴呆症。在使用语义干扰测试（SIT）的临床环境中已经发现了有希望的结果，这是对现有的情景记忆测试（富尔德物体记忆评估）的修改，利用了阿尔茨海默病中对语义干扰的脆弱性。目前尚不清楚这项工作将在多大程度上推广到更广泛的社区。
来自 Monongahela-Youghiogheny 健康老龄化团队（MYHAT）的年龄>或= 65 岁的参与者在研究开始时接受 SIT 测试。在不进行神经心理学评估的情况下，根据报告的认知驱动的日常功能丧失，参与者根据临床痴呆评分（CDR）量表进行评分。在没有痴呆症的个体（CDR <1）中，通过使用多个逻辑回归模型确定 SIT 与 CDR 的相关性来评估 SIT 的同时效度，CDR 0（无痴呆症）与 0.5（可能痴呆症）作为结果，SIT 测试变量作为预测因子。
所有 SIT 变量但有一个变量的表现较差与反映可能的痴呆症的较高 CDR 相关（优势比 2.24-4.79）。年龄较小和女性性别也赋予了表现优势。受教育年限和阅读能力（教育质量的替代指标）与 SIT 表现仅存在非常微弱的关联。
SIT 作为一种有效的、新颖的方法，有望在社区环境中识别早期的临床前痴呆症。它具有评估可能是文盲或教育程度低的人的潜力。最后，我们提供了按年龄分层的 SIT 正常数据，临床医生或研究人员在未来的研究中可能会使用这些数据。
