van Eersel Marlise E A, Joosten Hanneke, Koerts Janneke, Gansevoort Ron T, Slaets Joris P J, Izaks Gerbrand J
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, University Center for Geriatric Medicine, Groningen, The Netherlands.
University of Groningen, Department of Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology, Groningen, The Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2015 Mar 23;10(3):e0121411. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121411. eCollection 2015.
The Ruff Figural Fluency Test (RFFT) is a cognitive test to measure executive function. Longitudinal studies have shown that repeated testing improves performance on the RFFT. Such a practice effect may hinder the interpretation of test results in a clinical setting. Therefore, we investigated the longitudinal performance on the RFFT in persons aged 35-82 years. Performance on the RFFT was measured three times over an average follow-up period of six years in 2,515 participants of the Prevention of REnal and Vascular ENd-stage Disease (PREVEND) study in Groningen, the Netherlands: 53% men; mean age (SD), 53 (10) years. The effect of consecutive measurements on performance on the RFFT was investigated with linear multilevel regression models that also included age, gender, educational level and the interaction term consecutive measurement number x age as independent variables. It was found that the mean (SD) number of unique designs on the RFFT increased from 73 (26) at the first measurement to 79 (27) at the second measurement and to 83 (26) at the third measurement (p<0.001). However, the increase per consecutive measurement number was negatively associated with age and decreased with 0.23 per one-year increment of age (p<0.001). The increase per consecutive measurement number was not dependent on educational level. Similar results were found for the median (IQR) number of perseverative errors which showed a small but statistically significant increase with repeating testing: 7 (3-13) at the first measurement, 7 (4-14) at the second measurement and 8 (4-15) at the third measurement (p trend = 0.002). In conclusion, the performance on the RFFT improved by repeating the test over an average follow-up period of three to six years. This practice effect was the largest in young adults and not dependent on educational level.
鲁夫图形流畅性测试（RFFT）是一项用于测量执行功能的认知测试。纵向研究表明，重复测试可提高RFFT的表现。这种练习效应可能会妨碍在临床环境中对测试结果的解读。因此，我们调查了35至82岁人群在RFFT上的纵向表现。在荷兰格罗宁根进行的预防终末期肾病和血管疾病（PREVEND）研究的2515名参与者中，平均随访期为六年，对RFFT的表现进行了三次测量：男性占53%；平均年龄（标准差）为53（10）岁。使用线性多级回归模型研究了连续测量对RFFT表现的影响，该模型还包括年龄、性别、教育水平以及连续测量次数×年龄的交互项作为自变量。结果发现，RFFT上独特设计的平均（标准差）数量从第一次测量时的73（26）增加到第二次测量时的79（27），并在第三次测量时增加到83（26）（p<0.001）。然而，每次连续测量次数的增加与年龄呈负相关，且随着年龄每增加一岁减少0.23（p<0.001）。每次连续测量次数的增加与教育水平无关。对于持续性错误的中位数（四分位间距）也发现了类似的结果，随着重复测试显示出虽小但具有统计学意义的增加：第一次测量时为7（3 - 13），第二次测量时为7（4 - 14），第三次测量时为8（4 - 15）（p趋势 = 0.002）。总之，在平均三到六年的随访期内重复测试可提高RFFT的表现。这种练习效应在年轻人中最大，且与教育水平无关。
