El nivel de vocabulario como indicador de reserva cognitiva en la evaluación del deterioro cognitivo ligero

El presente trabajo estudia el papel del vocabulario, como indicador de reserva cognitiva, en la evaluación del Deterioro Cognitivo Ligero (DCL). Participaron 326 adultos mayores de 50 años, clasificados en dos grupos, uno de 104 participantes con DCL y otro de 222 controles sanos. Se analizaron las diferencias en las puntuaciones obtenidas en distintos indicadores de reserva cognitiva, entre ellos, las puntuaciones en el subtest de vocabulario WAIS y la prueba de vocabulario de imágenes Peabody. Para analizar el efecto de estos indicadores en la prevalencia del DCL se llevó a cabo un análisis de regresión logística. Los resultados indicaron que el grupo con DCL obtuvo puntuaciones significativamente menores que los controles en las tareas de vocabulario y en los hábitos de lectura. Las bajas puntuaciones en las pruebas de vocabulario fueron las medidas de reserva cognitiva que mejor predicen el riesgo de DCL. Teniendo en cuenta los resultados, el buen nivel de vocabulario parece contribuir a aumentar la reserva cognitiva como un indicador protector frente al deterioro cognitivo

Efecto de la reserva cognitiva en el Deterioro Cognitivo Ligero

La reserva cognitiva es la capacidad que tiene el cerebro de activar nuevas redes neuronales ante la presencia de un daño cerebral. Se trata de un constructo hipotético que no podemos medir directamente. Por este motivo, en su estudio se utilizan modelos de variables latentes que recojan estadísticamente la relación de múltiples variables o indicadores asociados a la reserva con la presencia o ausencia de deterioro cognitivo. Los indicadores que se han relacionado a la reserva cognitiva en la literatura están relacionados con las experiencias de vida: años de escolarización, profesión, inteligencia, actividades de ocio, participación social, actividades culturales… El objetivo general de este trabajo es analizar la relación entre la reserva y el Deterioro Cognitivo Ligero (DCL), entendido como un estado de deterioro cognitivo de las personas mayores que describe el estado intermedio entre el envejecimiento normal y la demencia. Para ello, se analizó una muestra de 326 participantes mayores de 50 años clasificados en tres grupos controles teniendo en cuenta las quejas subjetivas de memoria y tres grupos DCL teniendo en cuenta los criterios de clasificación de Petersen. Se valora el rendimiento cognitivo de cada participante mediante pruebas de rendimiento cognitivo general y pruebas de memoria episódica y memoria de trabajo. Además, se recogerán, mediante una entrevista, datos sobre los indicadores de reserva cognitiva: años de educación, complejidad laboral, vocabulario (inteligencia cristalizada), hábitos de lectura, actividades sociales y actividades culturales. Se realizan análisis con SPSS para comprobar las diferencias entre grupos (ANCOVAS, ANOVAS, Kruskal- Wallis y U de Mann Whitney), el efecto de cada indicador en el deterioro (regresión logística), y las relaciones entre los indicadores de reserva (análisis de correlaciones y análisis factorial exploratorio). Para analizar el efecto de la reserva cognitivo en el rendimiento, se utilizan modelos de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados indican que la reserva cognitiva tiene un efecto directo e indirecto sobre el rendimiento de los participantes, destacando la influencia de los indicadores más relacionados con el nivel educativo, en concreto, los hábitos de lectura y la inteligenci

Effects of Cognitive Reserve on Cognitive Performance in a Follow-Up Study in Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Complaints. The Role of Working Memory

Objective: Analyze the effects of CR on cognitive performance in adults with subjective cognitive complaints at follow-up. Method: We analyzed the factorial structure of the three constructs defined in cognitive performance (Episodic memory, Working memory, and General cognitive performance) separately to search for evidence of the invariance of the measurement model. We then developed four structural nested models to analyze the relationship between CR and cognitive performance, measured at baseline and after approximately 18 months, in 266 participants older than 50 years with subjective cognitive complaints. Results: The nested models revealed the following main results: direct effects of CR on all cognitive constructs at baseline and also indirect effects on the same constructs at follow-up, and indirect effects of CR on other cognitive constructs at follow-up via working memory at follow-up. Conclusion: The findings show that the proposed model is useful for measuring the influence of CR on cognitive performance in follow-up studies and that CR has a positive influence on cognitive performance at follow-up via working memory. CR may enhance mechanisms of information processing, favoring performance of tasks involving other cognitive constructs in older adults with subjective cognitive complaintsThis work was financially supported by the Spanish Directorate General of Scientific and Technical Research (Project PSI2014- 55316-C3-1-R) and by the Galician Government (Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria; axudas para a consolidación e estruturación de unidades de investigación competitivas do Sistema Universitario de Galicia; GRC (GI-1807-USC); Ref: ED431-2017/27) through FEDER foundsS

Análise da coesão grupal de equipas de futsal de elite da Galiza (Espanha)

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar las dimensiones de la cohesión grupal, las relaciones entre dichas variables y el efecto que tiene sobre el puesto ocupado por los equipos en la clasificación final. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 41 jugadores de los tres equipos gallegos de máxima categoría de futbol sala. Los resultados del análisis estadístico muestran que no existen diferencias significativas entre las respuestas de los jugadores de los tres equipos en cuanto a calidad de trabajo (ejecución) (p = .248); atracción hacia el grupo (p = .380); ni los roles valorados (p = .800); ni en la calidad de trabajo (relaciones interpersonales) (p = .165). A la vista de los resultados, independientemente del puesto final ocupado en la clasificación, la cohesión grupal es buena entre los jugadores de los equipos participantes, aunque se obtienen menores puntuaciones en los equipos peor clasificados, por lo que esto debe ser tenido en cuenta por los cuerpos técnicos de los clubesThis research aims to assess the dimensions of group cohesion, the relationships between these variables and the effect of classification on them. Sample consisted of 41 players from the three Galician top category futsal teams. Results of statistical analyses show no significant differences in the average response of the players of the three teams in terms of work quality (execution) (p =.248); attraction to the group (p = .380); valued roles (p = 0.800); and work quality (relationships) (p = .165). In view of the results, regardless of the final position occupied in qualifying, group cohesion is good among the players of the teams, although lower scores are obtained in lower ranked teams, so this should be taken into account by the technical bodies of the clubsEste trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar as dimensões da coesão grupal, as relações entre essas variáveis e o efeito que tem sobre eles a posição detida pela equipe na classificação final. A amostra foi composta por 41 jogadores das três equipas galegas da primeira divisão de futsal. Os resultados das análises estatísticas não mostram diferenças significativas na qualidade do trabalho (execução) (p = .248); atração para o grupo (p = .380); os papéis valorizados (p = .800); nem na qualidade do trabalho (relações interpessoais) (p = .165). Em vista dos resultados, independentemente da posição final ocupada na fase de qualificação, a coesão do grupo é bom entre os jogadores das equipas, embora menor pontuação são obtidos em equipes menores classificados, por isso deve ser levado em conta pelos organismos técnicos dos clubes.S

Puntuaciones normativas del Cambridge Cognitive ExaminationRevised en población española sana

Background: The Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised (CAMCOG) is widely used in clinical, epidemiological and research studies, but normative scores for age and educational level have not yet been established in the Spanish population. Method: The CAMCOG-R was administered to 730 adult members ofthe community, aged between 50-97 years, living throughout the region of Galicia. Initial screening yielded provisional identifi cation of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms. The fi nal sample consisted of 643 cognitively healthy adults. The following instruments were administered: a questionnaire concerning socio-demographic and clinical data, the Charlson’s Comorbidity Index, the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Lawton and Brody Index, a short version of the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the CASP-19 quality of life scale. Results: Internal consistency values of the CAMCOG-R were similar to those obtained for the original scale. The convergent validity between MoCA and CAMCOG-R was good, and the divergent validity between CASP-19 and CAMCOG-R was higher than the recommended value. Percentiles and inter-quartile range for age and educational level were calculated. Conclusions: Psychometric indexes showed that the CAMCOG-R is a reliable and valid instrument, which can generally avoid a ceiling effect. The study fi ndings confi rm the importance of specifying the normative data by age and educational levelAntecedentes: el CAMCOG es una escala de uso frecuente para el diagnóstico y la investigación de las demencias pero hasta el momento no disponemos de puntuaciones normativas por edad y nivel educativo en población española. Método: se administró el CAMCOG-R a 730 adultos, de entre 50-97 años, que vivían de manera independiente en Galicia. Un cribado inicial permitió excluir a participantes con deterioro cognitivo y/o síntomas depresivos, quedando la muestra fi nal conformada por 643 adultos. Se administraron los siguientes instrumentos: un cuestionario de datos sociodemográfi cos y clinicos, el índice de Comorbilidad de Charlson’s, el Mini-Mental State Examination, el Montreal Cognitive Assessment, la escala Lawton-Brody, la Escala de Depresión Geriátrica y la escala de calidad de vida CASP19. Resultados: los valores de consistencia interna fueron similares a los obtenidos con la escala original. La validez convergente con el MoCA fue buena y la divergente con el CASP-19 superó los valores recomendados. Se informa de percentiles y rangos inter-cuartil para cada grupo de edad y nivel educativo. Conclusiones: el CAMCOG-R es un instrumento fi able y válido con capacidad para evitar el efecto techo. Nuestros resultados confi rman la importancia de disponer de datos normativos por edad y nivel educativoThis work was supported by the Spanish Directorate General for Science and Technology under projects SEJ2007-67964-CO2-01, PSI2010-22224-C03-01 and by the Galician Government: Consellería de Industria e Innovación/Economía e Industria (PGIDIT07PXIB211018PR; 10PXIB2011070 PR)S

Using an overlapping time interval strategy to study diagnostic instability in mild cognitive impairment subtypes.

(1) Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a diagnostic label in which stability is typically low. The aim of this study was to examine temporal changes in the diagnosis of MCI subtypes by using an overlapping-time strategy; (2) Methods: The study included 435 participants aged over 50 years with subjective cognitive complaints and who completed at least one follow-up evaluation. The probability of transition was estimated using Bayesian odds ratios; (3) Results: Within the different time intervals, the controls with subjective cognitive complaints represented the largest proportion of participants, followed by sda-MCI at baseline and in the first five intervals of the follow-up, but not in the last eight intervals. The odds ratios indicated higher odds of conversion to dementia in sda-MCI and mda-MCI groups relative to na-MCI (e.g., interval 9-15 months-sda-MCI OR = 9 and mda-MCI OR = 3.36; interval 27-33-sda-MCI OR = 16 and mda-MCI = 5.06; interval 42-48-sda-MCI OR = 8.16 and mda-MCI = 3.45; interval 45-51-sda-MCI OR = 3.31 and mda-MCI = 1); (4) Conclusions: Notable patterns of instability consistent with the current literature were observed. The limitations of a prospective approach in the study of MCI transitions are discussed

Resting state electroencephalographic rhythms are affected by immediately preceding memory demands in cognitively unimpaired elderly and patients with mild cognitive impairment

Experiments on event-related electroencephalographic oscillations in aged people typically include blocks of cognitive tasks with a few minutes of interval between them. The present exploratory study tested the effect of being engaged on cognitive tasks over the resting state cortical arousal after task completion, and whether it differs according to the level of the participant’s cognitive decline. To investigate this issue, we used a local database including data in 30 healthy cognitively unimpaired (CU) persons and 40 matched patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). They had been involved in 2 memory tasks for about 40 min and underwent resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) recording after 5 min from the task end. eLORETA freeware estimated rsEEG alpha source activity as an index of general cortical arousal. In the CU but not aMCI group, there was a negative correlation between memory tasks performance and posterior rsEEG alpha source activity. The better the memory tasks performance, the lower the posterior alpha activity (i.e., higher cortical arousal). There was also a negative correlation between neuropsychological test scores of global cognitive status and alpha source activity. These results suggest that engagement in memory tasks may perturb background brain arousal for more than 5 min after the tasks end, and that this effect are dependent on participants global cognitive status. Future studies in CU and aMCI groups may cross-validate and extend these results with experiments including (1) rsEEG recordings before memory tasks and (2) post-tasks rsEEG recordings after 5, 15, and 30 minThis study was supported by grants from the Spanish Government, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PSI2017- 89389-C2-R and PID2020-114521RB-C21/C22); the Galician Government (Xunta de Galicia), Axudas para a Consolidación e Estruturación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas do Sistema Universitario de Galicia: GRC (GI-1807- USC); Ref: ED431-2017/27 and ED431C-2021/04; all with ERDF/FEDER funds. DP was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) grant with reference SFRH/BPD/120111/2016. AF was supported by an FPI grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación with reference PRE2018-085514S

Assessing Mild Behavioral Impairment with the Mild Behavioral Impairment-Checklist in People with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are non-cognitive, behavioral, or psychiatric symptoms, common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and associated with a higher risk of dementia. Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) is a validated diagnostic entity, that describes the emergence of later life NPS in pre-dementia states. The Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C) is the first measure developed to assess MBI. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of MBI in people with MCI and to study the score distribution, sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic utility of the MBI-C, and its correlations with neuropsychological tests. Methods: One hundred eleven MCI participants were evaluated with the Questionnaire for Subjective Memory Complaints (QSMC), Mini-Mental State Examination, Cambridge Cognitive Assessment-Revised, Neuropsychiatric Inventory- Questionnaire (NPI-Q), Geriatric Depression Scale-15 items (GDS-15), Lawton and Brody Index, and the MBI-C, which was administered by phone to participants’ informants. Descriptive, logistic regression, ROC curve, and bivariate correlations analyses were performed. Results: MBI diagnosis prevalence was 14.2%. The total MBI-C score differentiated people with MBI at a cutoff-point of 6.5, optimizing sensitivity and specificity. MBI-C total score correlated positively with NPI-Q, QSMC, GDS-15, and Lawton and Brody Index. Conclusion: The total MBI-C score, obtained by phone administration, is sensitive for detecting MBI in people with MCI. The MBI-C scores indicated that MCI participants had subtle NPS that were correlated to their subjective memory complaints reported by informants, depressive symptoms, and negatively with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Further research should be done to clarify the predictive role of NPS in MCI for incident dementiaThe study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ref. PSI2014-55316- C3-1-R) and the Galician Autonomous Government Grant (ref. ED431C2017/27). The first author is funded by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ref. BES-2015- 071253)S

Phonological fluency norms for Spanish middle-aged and older adults provided by the SCAND initiative (P, M, & R)

Objective: Verbal fluency tests are quick and easy to administer neuropsychological measures and are regularly used in neuropsychological assessment. Additionally, phonological fluency is a widely used paradigm that is sensitive to cognitive impairment. This paper offers normative data of phonological verbal fluency (letters P, M, R) for Spanish middle- and older-aged adults, considering sociodemographic factors, and different measures such as the total number of words, errors (perseveration and intrusions), and 15 sec-segmented scores. Method: A total of 1165 cognitively unimpaired participants aged between 50 and 89 years old, participated in the study. Data for P were obtained for all participants. Letters M and R were also administered to a subsample of participants (852) aged 60 to 89 years. In addition, errors and words produced every 15 seconds were collected in the subsample. To verify the effect of sociodemographic variables, linear regression was used. Adjustments were calculated for variables that explained at least 5% of the variance (R2 ≥ .05). Results: Means and standard deviations by age, scaled scores, and percentiles for all tests across different measures are shown. No determination coefficients equal to or greater than .05 were found for sex or age. The need to establish adjustments for the educational level was only found in some of the measures. Conclusions: The current norms provide clinically useful data to evaluate Spanish-speaking natives from Spain aged from 50 to 89 years. Specific patterns of cognitive impairment can be analyzed using these normative data and may be important in neuropsychological assessmentObjective: Verbal fluency tests are quick and easy to administer neuropsychological measures and are regularly used in neuropsychological assessment. Additionally, phonological fluency is a widely used paradigm that is sensitive to cognitive impairment. This paper offers normative data of phonological verbal fluency (letters P, M, R) for Spanish middle- and older-aged adults, considering sociodemographic factors, and different measures such as the total number of words, errors (perseveration and intrusions), and 15 sec-segmented scores. Method: A total of 1165 cognitively unimpaired participants aged between 50 and 89 years old, participated in the study. Data for P were obtained for all participants. Letters M and R were also administered to a subsample of participants (852) aged 60 to 89 years. In addition, errors and words produced every 15 seconds were collected in the subsample. To verify the effect of sociodemographic variables, linear regression was used. Adjustments were calculated for variables that explained at least 5% of the variance (R2 ≥ .05). Results: Means and standard deviations by age, scaled scores, and percentiles for all tests across different measures are shown. No determination coefficients equal to or greater than .05 were found for sex or age. The need to establish adjustments for the educational level was only found in some of the measures. Conclusions: The current norms provide clinically useful data to evaluate Spanish-speaking natives from Spain aged from 50 to 89 years. Specific patterns of cognitive impairment can be analyzed using these normative data and may be important in neuropsychological assessmentS