| 경증 및 중등도 알츠하이머병 환자의 추적평가 선별도구로서 언어유창성 검사의 유용성 |
| 이주희, 강경훈b 곽호완c 장문선c 배대석d 박성파a 이호원a,e |
| 경북대학교 의학전문대학원 신경과학교실a, 군립청도노인요양병원 신경과b, 경북대학교 대학원 심리학과c, 영남대학교 의과대학 정신과학교실d, 경북대학교 뇌과학연구소e |
| Usefulness of Verbal Fluency Performance as Follow-up Screening Tool in Patients With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease |
| Ju-Hui Lee |
| Department of Neurologya, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
Department of Neurologyb, Cheongdo County Geriatrics Hospital, Cheongdo, Korea
Department of Psychologyc, Kyungpook National University Graduate School, Daegu, Korea
Department of Psychiatryd, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
Brain Science & Engineering Institutee, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea |
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| Abstract |
Background: Impaired verbal fluency in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been well documented. Furthermore, cross- sectional studies suggest that semantic fluency is disproportionately impaired relative to phonemic fluency in AD. The aim of this study was to determine the ability of fluency measures as follow-up screening tool for mild to moderate AD.
Methods: Participants were recruited from AD patients in mild to moderate stages. We annually evaluated semantic (animal, supermarket) and phonemic (giyeok, siot, ieung) fluency and tested other extensive neuropsychological measures for two years
Results: A total of 33 AD patients were included at baseline and 1-year follow-up, who were aged 70.18±5.97 years at baseline. Eleven patients completed a 2-year follow-up. Phonemic fluency total score was not significantly changed during the study period. However, semantic fluency total score tended to decline annually, and significantly declined at 2-year follow-up compared to baseline. In addition, difference score (semantic fluency minus phonemic fluency) was significantly decreased at every follow-up compared to previous year. In Pearson correlation analyses between changes of verbal fluency and other neuropsychological measures, changes of semantic fluency appeared to be significantly correlated with neuropsychological measures much more than changes of phonemic fluency.
Conclusions: Significant longitudinal declines in semantic fluency compared to phonemic fluency seem to be consistent with previous cross-sectional studies. These patterns of changes in verbal fluency were observed even at an interval of one year follow-up in our study. The verbal fluency might be useful follow-up screening test for mild to moderate AD in the memory clinic setting. KeyWords:Alzheimer’s disease, Verbal fluency, Semantic fluency, Phonemic fluency, Longitudinal study |
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