Verbal behavior in Alzheimer disease patients: Analysis of phrase repetition

Abstract

Language problems in the elderly with AD are due to the fact that deterioration occurs not only in semantic memory, but in a group of cognitive factors, evidenced by a deficiency in search strategies for linguistic information.ObjectivesTo evaluate phrase repetition in two cognitive tests, the MMSE and MoCA, in a group of Alzheimer disease patients (AD) and normal controls.MethodsA Cross-sectional study was conducted involving 20 patients who sought medical assistance at a geriatric institute in Jundiaí, São Paulo. The subjects underwent a detailed clinical examination and neuropsychometric evaluation. All subjects with AD met DSM-IV and NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. Ten patients received a diagnosis of AD and 10 were healthy subjects, forming the control group (CG).ResultsAll participants correctly answered the phrase from the MMSE (phrase 1). The MoCA phrases (phrases 2 and 3) were correct in 80% and 90%, respectively in the CG and in 40% and 50%, respectively in the AD group.ConclusionsThe MoCA test proved more effective in evaluating the echoic behavior in AD patients compared to the MMSE. The simpler phrase repetition task in the MMSE was found to be less sensitive in detecting mild language decline in AD patients.

Evaluation of Montreal cognitive assessment for the differential diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease in elderly patients with more than 5 years of schooling: Data from a Brazilian sample

“…MoCA was developed as an assessment tool for MCI diagnostic and mild cases of dementia [17,20,22,23]. When compared to the MMSE (one of the most widely used screening instruments worldwide) MoCA has more memory items in the assessment, and includes aspects of executive function and a more structured language subitem [7,20]. In this research it became clear the best diagnostic accuracy of the MoCA compared to MMSE, CAMCOG, VF and CDT which confirms other mentioned studies above.…”

“…In spite of the forgetfulness for recent events are an early diagnostic sign for Alzheimer's disease (AD) [3][4][5][6][7], declines in memory established by neuropsychological assessment (according to age and educational level) that does not interfere with basic activities (ADL) and instrumental (IADL's) daily life give rise to a new construct, called Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) [8][9][10][11][12]. MCI is an important target of recent research because it can increase the probability of the clinical frame evolute to dementia.…”

Discriminative Power of Montreal Cognitive Assessment

“…As detailed above, the test MoCA is better structured than MMSE, with more memory items as well as language and executive functions tests (Cecato et al, 2010;Nasreddine, et al, 2005). We can conclude that MoCA is an appropriate instrument for help mild cognitive impairment diagnosis among brazilian elderly, with over four years of study, showing predictive value in differentiating AD from MCI.…”

“…Several studies suggests problems in differentiate cognitive functions on AD and MCI elderly with higher educational levels, because of ceiling effect of some cognitive tests (Cecato et al, 2012;Fuzikawa et al, 2007;Aprahamian et al, 2010) increasing the importance of the present study.…”

“…When compared to MMSE (one of the most widely used screening instruments in the world), the MoCA has more memory and executive function items (Nasreddine, et. Alma, 2005), and a more structured language subclause (Cecato et. al., 2010).…”