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Objective To investigate the impact of demographic factors and develop normative data for two verbal fluency tests in a sample of Spanish-Speakers living in the U.S./Mexico border region. Participants and Method The sample consisted of 252 adults (Age: M = 37.3, SD = 10.2, range 19-60; Education: M = 10.7, SD = 4.37, range 0-20, 59% female), living in the US-Mexico border region of Arizona and California. Participants completed the letter (letters P, M, and R) and semantic (Animal Naming) fluency tests as part of a larger neuropsychological test norming study. Normative T-scores were computed with fractional polynomial equations controlling for age, education, and sex. We also calculated the rates of impairment (T < 40) that would be obtained by applying the newly developed norms and available test norms for non-Hispanic English-speakers. Results Higher education was significantly associated with better raw scores on both verbal fluency tests (letter: r = 0.41, semantic: r = 0.36, ps < .001), and older age was significantly associated with higher raw scores on letter fluency (r = 0.14, p < .05). There were no other significant effects of demographic factors. The normalized distribution of T-scores with the new norms showed the expected impairment rate (16% letter and 15% semantic fluency). However, application of existing non-Hispanic White norms resulted in 23% impairment for letter fluency and 24% in semantic fluency. Using non-Hispanic Black norms resulted in 9% impairment in letter fluency and 2% in semantic fluency. Conclusions We provide norms for Spanish speakers living along the U.S-Mexico border region for two verbal fluency tests that are co-normed with a more extensive neuropsychological battery. We demonstrate that application of existing norms derived from English speaking samples yield inaccurate estimates of impairment. As such, these regional norms will improve the interpretation of verbal fluency performance in Spanish-speakers living in the US-Mexico borderland.

Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted daily life worldwide, with possible negative consequences for cognitive health. Self-reported cognitive symptoms are linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRDs).Identifying risk and protective factors for cognitive symptoms during the pandemic is an important step towards the development of ADRD prevention efforts. We aimed to examine correlates of cognitive symptoms among middle-and older-age adults in Latin America before the availability of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, including sociodemographic factors and changes in life.Method: Spanish-speaking adults ages 55-95 (N = 2,382, Table 1) living in Latin America completed an online survey between May and December 2020. Cognitive symptoms were assessed via the 12-item Everyday Cognition (ECog) questionnaire.Negative (e.g., economic difficulties, limited social activities) and positive (e.g., more quality time with close others, increased time in nature/outside) life changes associated with the pandemic were measured via a subset of items from the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory. Sociodemographic factors included age, years of education, gender, occupation and socioeconomic status (SES). Covariates included time since March 2020 (estimated onset of the pandemic in Latin America), country of survey comple-