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Visuo-constructional functions in patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease

Visuo-konstruktive Funktionen in Patienten mit Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimerkrankheit, und Parkinson Krankheit

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Summary

Background

Several recently proposed criteria for assessing cognitive disorder require measuring the cognitive domain of visuo-constructional function. The aims of the present study were to develop a new test (Vienna Visuo-constructional Test—VVT) measuring visuo-constructional functions and to determine the reliability and validity of the VVT in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We further examined age and sex effects and the psychometric quality of the VVT.

Methods

The study included 76 healthy controls and 103 patients who were referred to the Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna for neurocognitive assessment. An administering and scoring system for the VVT was developed.

Results

Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was found to range from 0.82 for the healthy control group to 0.93 for the total patient group. There was no sex effect, but age had a negative effect on VVT performance. The VVT successfully differentiated healthy controls from MCI patients, AD patients, and PD patients, respectively.

Conclusion

The VVT shows satisfactory validity and reliability and can be administered easily in clinical practice. It constitutes a new measure that can successfully be used to identify visuo-constructional problems in patients with cognitive dysfunction.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Mehrere kürzlich vorgeschlagenen Klassifikationsschemeta zur Beurteilung kognitiver Störung fordern die Erfassung der kognitiven Domäne „visuo-konstruktive Funktionen“. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war die Entwicklung eines neuen Tests (Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test—VVT) zur Messung visuo-konstruktiver Funktionen. Mithilfe der VVT wurden bei Patienten mit leichter kognitiver Beeinträchtigung (MCI), Parkinson-Krankheit (PD) und Alzheimer (AD) die visuo-konstruktiven Fähigkeiten untersucht. Des Weiteren wurden Alters- und Geschlechtseffekte und die psychometrische Qualität des VVT bestimmt.

Methoden

Die Studie umfasste 76 gesunde Kontrollpersonen und 103 Patienten, die sich an der Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Medizinische Universität Wien einer neurologischen Untersuchung unterzogen. Ein neuartiges Auswertungssystem für die VVT wurde entwickelt.

Ergebnisse

Die interne Konsistenz (Cronbach Alpha) lag im Bereich von 0,82 für die gesunde Kontrollgruppe und 0,93 für die gesamte Patientengruppe. Es zeigte sich kein Geschlechtereffekt, aber das Alter hatte einen negativen Effekt auf die VVT Leistung. Der VVT konnte erfolgreich zwischen gesunden Kontrollen und MCI-Patienten, Patienten mit AD und PD-Patienten differenzieren.

Schlussfolgerung

Der VVT zeigte eine zufriedenstellende Gültigkeit und Zuverlässigkeit und kann problemlos in der klinischen Praxis angewendet werden. Es stellt somit ein neues Verfahren dar, um visuell-konstruktive Probleme bei Patienten mit kognitiven Störungen zu identifizieren.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sandra Kogler for proof reading the manuscript. A German version and an English version of the VVT are available free of charge from the authors.

Conflict of interest

Prof. Lehrner, Mag. Krakhofer, Prof. Lamm, Dr. Macher, Dr. Moser, Dr. Klug, Dr. Pusswald, Prof. Dal-Bianco, Prof. Pirker, and Prof. Auff report no disclosures.

Prof. Lehrner: Study concept and design, study supervision, acquisition of data, critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content.

Mag. Krakhofer: analysis and interpretation, drafting the manuscript

Prof. Lamm: critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content

Dr. Macher, Dr. Moser, and Mag. Klug: acquisition of data.

Prof. Dal-Bianco, Prof. Pirker, Prof. Auff, and Dr. Pusswald: critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1097, Vienna, Austria

    Johann Lehrner PhD

  2. Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Harald Krakhofer MA & Claus Lamm PhD

  3. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Stefan Macher MD, Doris Moser PhD, Stefanie Klug MA, Peter Dal-Bianco MD, Walter Pirker MD, Eduard Auff MD & Gisela Pusswald PhD

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  1. Johann Lehrner PhD
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  4. Stefan Macher MD
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  10. Gisela Pusswald PhD
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Correspondence to Johann Lehrner PhD.

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Lehrner, J., Krakhofer, H., Lamm, C. et al. Visuo-constructional functions in patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychiatr 29, 112–119 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-015-0141-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40211-015-0141-2

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