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Staios M, Nielsen TR, Kosmidis MH, Papadopoulos A, Kokkinias A, Velakoulis D, Tsiaras Y, March E, Stolwyk RJ. Validity of Visuoconstructional Assessment Methods within Healthy Elderly Greek Australians: Quantitative and Error Analysis. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2022; 38:598-607. [DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acac091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Aims
Visuospatial skills are frequently assessed with drawing tests. Research has suggested that the use of drawing tasks in low educated groups may lack the ability to discriminate healthy individuals from clinical populations. The aims of this study were to investigate the validity of visuoconstructional tests in a sample of older Greek Australian immigrants and compare their performances to a matched sample of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (ad).
Method
We assessed visuoconstructional performances in a sample of 90 healthy older Greek Australians, with a primary school level of education, and compared performances to a demographically matched sample of 20 Greek Australians with a diagnosis of ad on four visuoconstructional drawing tests: Greek cross, four-pointed star, intersecting pentagons, and the Necker Cube.
Results
While healthy participants tended to outperform the ad group on most copy tasks, high fail rates within the healthy sample were observed for the intersecting pentagons and Necker cube (78% and 73% fail rates, respectively) when using established clinical cut-off scores. High rates of curved angle, omission, distorted relation between elements, spatial disorganization and three-dimensional design errors were found across the four-pointed star, intersecting pentagons, and the Necker cube in both healthy participants and those with ad. Exploratory receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that, with perhaps the exception of the Greek cross, meaningful sensitivity and specificity could not be reached for the four-pointed star, intersecting pentagons, and Necker cube.
Conclusion
Cognitively healthy immigrants with low education appear to be at a disadvantage when completing visuoconstructional drawing tests, as their performance may be misinterpreted as indicating cognitive impairment. Future research is needed to identify alternative approaches to assess visuoconstructional ability in culturally and linguistically diverse older cohorts with limited education.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathew Staios
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University , Melbourne, Australia
| | - T Rune Nielsen
- Danish Dementia Research Centre, Neuroscience Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital Department of Neurology, , Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mary H Kosmidis
- School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, , Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Alexandra Papadopoulos
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University , Melbourne, Australia
| | - Arthur Kokkinias
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Inner West Area Mental Health Service , Parkville, Australia
| | - Dennis Velakoulis
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health Department of Psychiatry, , Melbourne, Australia
- The Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuropsychiatry, , Melbourne, Australia
| | - Yiannis Tsiaras
- School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, , Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Evrim March
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University , Melbourne, Australia
| | - Renerus J Stolwyk
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University , Melbourne, Australia
- Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre , Melbourne, Australia
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Fuks KB, Wigmann C, Altug H, Schikowski T. Road Traffic Noise at the Residence, Annoyance, and Cognitive Function in Elderly Women. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2019; 16:E1790. [PMID: 31137595 PMCID: PMC6572214 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16101790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The detrimental effects of traffic noise on cognition in children are well documented. Not much is known about the health effects in adults. We investigated the association of residential exposure to road traffic noise and annoyance due to road traffic noise with cognitive function in a cohort of 288 elderly women from the longitudinal Study on the influence of Air pollution on Lung function, Inflammation and Aging (SALIA) in Germany. Residential noise levels-weighted 24-h mean (LDEN) and nighttime noise (LNIGHT)-were modeled for the most exposed facade of dwellings and dichotomized at ≥50 dB(A). Traffic noise annoyance (day and night) was estimated by questionnaire. Cognitive function was assessed using the Consortium to Establish a Registry on Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-Plus) Neuropsychological Assessment Battery. The modeled noise levels were associated with impaired total cognition and the constructional praxis domain, independently of air pollution. Self-reported noise annoyance was associated with better performance in semantic memory and constructional praxis domains. This finding should be interpreted with caution since we could not control for potential confounding by hearing loss. Noise levels and annoyance were associated, but their health effects seemed mutually independent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kateryna B Fuks
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Claudia Wigmann
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Hicran Altug
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Tamara Schikowski
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
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