Effectiveness of sorting tests for detecting cognitive decline in older adults with dementia and other common neurodegenerative disorders: A meta-analysis
Date
2021
Authors
Foran, A.M.
Mathias, J.
Bowden, S.
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Journal article
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Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2021; 120:442-454
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AM Foran, JL Mathias, SC Bowden
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Abstract
The demand for simple, accurate and time-efficient screens to detect cognitive decline at point-of-care is increasing. Sorting tests are often used to detect the ‘executive’ deficits that are commonly associated with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), but their potential for use as a cognitive screen with older adults is unclear. A comprehensive search of four databases identified 142 studies that compared the sorting test performance (e.g. WCST, DKEFS-ST) of adults with a common neurodegenerative disorder (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, bvFTD, Parkinson’s disease) and cognitively-healthy controls. Hedges’ g effect sizes were used to compare the groups on five common test scores (Category, Total, Perseveration, Error, Description). The neurodegenerative disorders (combined) showed large deficits on all scores (g -1.0 to -1.3), with dementia (combined subtypes) performing more poorly (g -1.2 to -2.1), although bvFTD was not disproportionately worse than the other dementias. Overall, sorting tests detected the cognitive impairments caused by common neurodegenerative disorders, especially dementia, highlighting their potential suitability as a cognitive screen for older adults.
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Available online 20 October 2020
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© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.