Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society

Table of Contents - 1999 - Volume 5, Issue 03  


BRIEF COMMUNICATION

Clinical utility of CERAD neuropsychological battery in elderly Jamaicans

FREDERICK W.  UNVERZAGT a1c1, OWEN S.  MORGAN a2, CHARLES H.  THESIGER a3, DENISE A.  ELDEMIRE a4, JOHN  LUSEKO a2, SARADA  POKURI a3, SIU L.  HUI a5, KATHLEEN S.  HALL a1 and HUGH C.  HENDRIE a1
a1 Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.
a2 Department of Medicine, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
a3 Department of Psychiatry, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
a4 Department of Community Health, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
a5 Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN.

Abstract

Information on the clinical utility of neuropsychological tests in non-North-American samples is limited. We examined the diagnostic efficacy of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological battery in Jamaican men and women age 65 and older. A total of 72 elders were diagnosed as normal and 12 were demented based on history, physical, and neurological examination. Independent of this medical examination, participants were tested with the CERAD battery. Normal controls scored significantly better than dementia patients on all tests in the CERAD battery. A discriminant function found that a combination of Word List Learning Sum Recall and Boston Naming Test correctly classified a total of 81% of the cases (83% of the dements and 81% of the normal controls). This study is the first to demonstrate the clinical utility of the CERAD neuropsychological battery in the differential diagnosis of memory disorders of the aged in a non-North-American sample. (JINS, 1999, 5, 255–259.)

(Received November 14 1997)
(Revised May 22 1998)
(Accepted June 3 1998)


Key Words: Neuropsychological tests; Geriatrics; Dementia; Alzheimer's disease; Diagnosis.

Correspondence:
c1 Reprint requests to: Frederick W. Unverzagt, 550 N. University Boulevard, Suite 3124, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5266. E-mail: funverza@iupui.edu

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