Projects per year
Abstract / Description of output
Background
Tests requiring the pronunciation of irregular words are used to estimate premorbid cognitive ability in patients with clinical diagnoses, and prior cognitive ability in normal ageing. However, scores on these word-reading tests correlate with scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a widely used screening test for possible cognitive pathology. This study aimed to test whether the word-reading tests’ correlations with MMSE scores in healthy older people are explained by childhood IQ or education.
Method
Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR), National Adult Reading Test (NART), MMSE scores and information about education were obtained from 1024 70-year-olds, for whom childhood intelligence test scores were available.
Results
WTAR and NART were positively correlated with the MMSE (r ≈ 0.40, p < 0.001). The shared variance of WTAR and NART with MMSE was significantly attenuated by ~70% after controlling for childhood intelligence test scores. Education explained little additional variance in the association between the reading tests and the MMSE.
Conclusions
MMSE, which is often used to index cognitive impairment, is associated with prior cognitive ability. MMSE score is related to scores on WTAR and NART largely due to their shared association with prior ability. Obtained MMSE scores should be interpreted in the context of prior ability (or WTAR/NART score as its proxy).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
Journal | Psychological Medicine |
Early online date | 5 Jul 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Sept 2016 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- mini-mental state examination
- National Adult Reading Test
- premorbid cognitive ability
- Wechsler Test of Adult Reading
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Why is mini-mental state examination performance correlated with estimated premorbid cognitive ability?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 7 Finished
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RA2664 Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2 KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE BUDGET
Deary, I., Maclullich, A., Porteous, D., Seckl, J. & Wardlaw, J.
1/09/13 → 31/08/19
Project: Research
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Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2 PILOTS BUDGET (Genotyping and Brain Imaging).
Deary, I., Maclullich, A., Porteous, D., Seckl, J. & Wardlaw, J.
1/09/13 → 31/08/19
Project: Research