%0 Journal Article
%T Validity of a novel computerized cognitive battery for mild cognitive impairment
%A Tzvi Dwolatzky
%A Victor Whitehead
%A Glen M Doniger
%A Ely S Simon
%A Avraham Schweiger
%A Dena Jaffe
%A Howard Chertkow
%J BMC Geriatrics
%D 2003
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2318-3-4
%X A 2-center study was designed to assess discriminant validity of tests in the Mindstreams Mild Impairment Battery. Participants were 30 individuals diagnosed with MCI, 29 with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 39 healthy elderly. Testing was with the Mindstreams battery and traditional neuropsychological tests. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to examine the ability of Mindstreams and traditional measures to discriminate those with MCI from cognitively healthy elderly. Between-group comparisons were made (Mann-Whitney U test) between MCI and healthy elderly and between MCI and mild AD groups.Mindstreams outcome parameters across multiple cognitive domains significantly discriminated among MCI and healthy elderly with considerable effect sizes (p < 0.05). Measures of memory, executive function, visual spatial skills, and verbal fluency discriminated best, and discriminability was at least comparable to that of traditional neuropsychological tests in these domains.Mindstreams tests are effective in detecting MCI, providing a comprehensive profile of cognitive function. Further, the enhanced precision and ease of use of these computerized tests make the NeuroTrax system a valuable clinical tool in the identification of elderly at high risk for dementia.Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the term applied to a condition in which elderly individuals who have a subjective cognitive complaint have objective memory impairment in the absence of functional disability [1-3]. Its importance arises from the observation that it often constitutes the clinical state between normal cognition and dementia in the elderly [4]. Approximately 12¨C15% of MCI subjects per year convert to clinical dementia with functional disability [4,5]. For this reason, much interest has centered on the development of standardized techniques for quantification of cognitive deficits in MCI and potential therapeutic interventions for treatment of these high-risk individuals [6].Whil
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2318/3/4