Development and Validation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL) for the Assessment of Cognitive Function Across Adulthood

Abstract

The authors introduce a screening instrument that assesses cognitive-function domains across adulthood over the telephone. The authors administered the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL) to 81 younger adults (M = 25.6 years) and 83 older adults (M = 66.9 years). Each participant completed the COGTEL twice, once over the telephone and once in a face-to-face assessment. The authors (a) analyzed the degree of agreement between face-to-face and telephone COGTEL scores, (b) developed a COGTEL Total score that reflects global cognitive functioning, and (c) examined concurrent validity. The method of administration did not largely influence mean levels, rank orders, or factor structure as revealed by confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, age differences were not modulated by the form of administration. The distribution of COGTEL Total scores followed a Gaussian function, which prevents COGTEL from being limited by ceiling effects. The results provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the COGTEL to assess cognitive functioning in large-scale epidemiological studies, longitudinal studies, and clinical follow-up among healthy adults.

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Cognitive Decline: A Longitudinal Study among Non-Demented Older Adults

“…As compared with other cognitive telephone screening instruments, the COGTEL was designed to allow a global assessment of cognitive function without being subject to ceiling effects [24]. The COGTEL was administered to 1,952 participants, of whom 1,697 had valid COGTEL results (causes of exclusion were hearing impairment, termination of tasks or the interview, cheating or help at the COGTEL, and lack of critical data from the baseline examination) and 1,302 in addition had measurements of 25(OH)D concentrations in blood samples taken around the time of COGTEL administration (fig.…”

Cognitive function and its associations in older adults from Amazonas, Brazil

“…In this domain, the contribution of the level of education to this variable should be emphasized, as it can play a key role in the adequacy of such interventions. Moreover, the level of education has been used to assess the simultaneous validity of instruments of cognitive function assessment 4 . The conclusions of the present study must consider the following two limiting factors: the sample characteristics and the study design.…”

“…Cognitive function, normally assessed with performance tests, is determined through several subdomains. Short-term verbal memory, long-term verbal memory, work memory, verbal fluency, inductive reasoning and prospective memory are some examples 4 . Among the types of cognitive decline, memory is undoubtedly more associated with aging, as it is considered to be one of the main complaints of older adults 5 .…”

“…Among the types of cognitive decline, memory is undoubtedly more associated with aging, as it is considered to be one of the main complaints of older adults 5 . As an example, work memory should be mentioned in particular, required for arithmetic operations and longterm memory, including episodic memory, referring to specific events connected to a certain time and place 4,5 . Verbal fluency/executive function impairments, often associated with changes in the volume and function of the pre-frontal cortex and neurotransmitters, namely dopamine, or even with the decrease in white matter, are linked to motor function decline 6 , low performance in tasks related to immediate memory, long-term memory and information processing speed 7 .…”

Mood effects on memory and executive control in a real-life situation

“…A face-to-face version of the verbal episodic memory task from the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL; Kliegel, Martin, & Jäger, 2007) was used in two versions (A and B). In both versions, eight word pairs were presented for one minute.…”