Elman Jeremy A, Jak Amy J, Panizzon Matthew S, Tu Xin M, Chen Tian, Reynolds Chandra A, Gustavson Daniel E, Franz Carol E, Hatton Sean N, Jacobson Kristen C, Toomey Rosemary, McKenzie Ruth, Xian Hong, Lyons Michael J, Kremen William S
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Center for Behavior Genetics of Aging, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2018 May 14;10:372-381. doi: 10.1016/j.dadm.2018.04.003. eCollection 2018.
Longitudinal testing is necessary to accurately measure cognitive change. However, repeated testing is susceptible to practice effects, which may obscure true cognitive decline and delay detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
We retested 995 late-middle-aged men in a ∼6-year follow-up of the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging. In addition, 170 age-matched replacements were tested for the first time at study wave 2. Group differences were used to calculate practice effects after controlling for attrition effects. MCI diagnoses were generated from practice-adjusted scores.
There were significant practice effects on most cognitive domains. Conversion to MCI doubled after correcting for practice effects, from 4.5% to 9%. Importantly, practice effects were present although there were declines in uncorrected scores.
Accounting for practice effects is critical to early detection of MCI. Declines, when lower than expected, can still indicate practice effects. Replacement participants are needed for accurately assessing disease progression.
纵向测试对于准确测量认知变化是必要的。然而，重复测试易受练习效应的影响，这可能会掩盖真正的认知衰退并延迟轻度认知障碍（MCI）的检测。
在越南时代双胞胎衰老研究的约6年随访中，我们对995名中老年男性进行了重新测试。此外，170名年龄匹配的替代者在研究第2波时首次接受测试。在控制损耗效应后，使用组间差异来计算练习效应。MCI诊断由经过练习调整的分数得出。
大多数认知领域都存在显著的练习效应。校正练习效应后，转化为MCI的比例翻倍，从4.5%增至9%。重要的是，尽管未校正分数有所下降，但练习效应依然存在。
考虑练习效应对于MCI的早期检测至关重要。当下降幅度低于预期时，仍可能表明存在练习效应。需要替代参与者来准确评估疾病进展。
