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Predicting financial deficits from a standard neuropsychological assessment: preliminary evidence in mild cognitive impairment

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Abstract

Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) might experience difficulties in numerical and financial abilities of daily living that compromise their autonomy. The aim of the present work was to examine whether specific tests of the standard neuropsychological assessment could be used to predict these deficits in the clinical practice. Thirty-four MCI patients underwent a comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological examination including (1) a complete assessment of financial abilities and (2) a traditional neuropsychological assessment including measures of language, memory, executive functioning, reasoning, attention, and visuospatial abilities. The neuropsychological tests were used as predictors of the performance in everyday financial tasks using logistic regression analysis. Deficits in financial tasks including calculating percentages, using financial concepts and applying financial judgments were significantly predicted by tests of executive functions, language and short-term memory, while deficits in frequently encountered financial tasks activities such as item purchase and reading numbers could not be predicted by standard neuropsychological evaluations. Contingency tables on performance above/below clinical cut-offs evidenced some cases of financial deficits in the absence of cognitive deficits and, vice versa, some patients with cognitive decline did not show financial impairments. These results suggest that while some cognitive functions might be crucial for taking financial decisions, an ad hoc test of financial capacity is essential to make overall inferences about the everyday financial autonomy of MCI patients. This has potential implications for clinical and legal decisions that directly impact the individuals and their families.

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Funding

The writing of this paper was made possible by the support of “Progetto giovani ricercatori: FINAGE” (GR-2018-12367927) from the Ministry of Health to F.B. SBV was funded by the Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research: "Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN)" prot. 2017 PSRHPZ.

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Author notes

  1. Arcara Giorgio and Semenza Carlo should be considered joint senior authors.

    Burgio Francesca and Benavides-Varela Silvia shared first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy

    Francesca Burgio, Roberta Toffano, Francesca Meneghello, Giorgio Arcara & Carlo Semenza

  2. Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Silvia Benavides-Varela

  3. Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Silvia Benavides-Varela

  4. Department of Geriatrics, Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy

    Katie Palmer

  5. Department of Neuroscience (Padova Neuroscience Center), University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Carlo Semenza

Authors
  1. Francesca Burgio
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  2. Silvia Benavides-Varela
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  3. Roberta Toffano
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  4. Katie Palmer
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  5. Francesca Meneghello
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  6. Giorgio Arcara
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  7. Carlo Semenza
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Roberta Toffano, Giorgio Arcara, Silvia Benavides-Varela, Katie Palmer, and Francesca Burgio. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Francesca Burgio and Silvia Benavides-Varela and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesca Burgio.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All participants gave their informed consent according to the Helsinki Declaration. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for clinical experimentation of Venice and IRCCS San Camillo Hospital (Venice, Italy), reference number 2016.07.

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Burgio, F., Benavides-Varela, S., Toffano, R. et al. Predicting financial deficits from a standard neuropsychological assessment: preliminary evidence in mild cognitive impairment. Neurol Sci 43, 299–303 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05304-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-021-05304-0

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