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Verbal Fluency in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease and Alzheimer's Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2014

Vanessa Herbert ,
Rebecca L Brookes ,
Hugh S Markus  and
Robin G Morris
Vanessa Herbert
Affiliation:
Stroke and Dementia Research Centre, St. George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom
Rebecca L Brookes*
Affiliation:
Stroke and Dementia Research Centre, St. George's, University of London, London, United Kingdom
Hugh S Markus
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, Department of Neurology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Robin G Morris
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Rebecca Brookes, Stroke and Dementia Research Centre, St George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE. E-mail: rbrookes@sgul.ac.uk
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Abstract

Patterns of verbal fluency deficits have been explored across different neurodegenerative disorders. This study sought to investigate the specific pattern of verbal fluency performance in cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), which is the most common cause of vascular cognitive impairment, and compare this with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Participants with SVD (n = 45), AD (n = 24) and healthy controls (n = 80) completed assessments of semantic and phonemic fluency. Mixed-model analyses of covariance were used to compare performance on the different fluency tasks between the groups, and a discriminant function analysis was conducted to examine group differentiation. The SVD group was impaired in both fluency tasks when compared to the controls. In contrast, the AD group displayed impairment in semantic fluency only. Discriminant function analysis revealed that fluency scores correctly classified 80% of SVD patients and 92% of AD patients. The pattern of performance observed in the SVD group may reflect deficits in executive function and processing speed impacting equivalently on semantic and phonemic fluency. The differences between the SVD and AD groups highlighted in this study may be useful for distinguishing between these conditions. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–9)

Keywords

Semantic fluencyPhonemic fluencyNeuropsychological assessmentAlzheimer's dementiaLacunar strokeVascular cognitive impairment
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , April 2014 , pp. 413 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2014 

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