TY - JOUR
T1 - Executive performance in older portuguese adults with low education
AU - Pavão Martins, Isabel
AU - Maruta, Carolina
AU - Freitas, Vanda
AU - Mares, Inês
PY - 2013/4/1
Y1 - 2013/4/1
N2 - Evaluation of executive functions is essential in clinical diagnosis, yet there are limited data regarding the performance of participants with low education. We present results on several measures of executive functions obtained in community-dwelling adults with an overall low education and study the effect of this variable in each test. A sample of 479 adults (64% female, mean age 66.4 years) was assessed by a battery comprising 13 measures of executive function (Trail Making Test; Symbol Search; Matrix reasoning; Semantic and phonemic verbal fluencies; Stroop test; and digit spans). Tests psychometric properties and the effects of age, gender, and education were studied across education levels within each age group. Tests showed good psychometric properties. Education explained more variance than age in the majority of measures, with lower educational levels being significantly associated to worse scores. Tables are presented with mean scores, standard deviation, and the value of extreme percentiles for younger (50-65, N = 232) and older (>65 years, N = 247) × education (0-3, 4, 5-9, and >9 years) subgroups. Education-adjusted norms are necessary for an adequate interpretation of test results. The present data may be useful for clinicians caring for populations with low literacy.
AB - Evaluation of executive functions is essential in clinical diagnosis, yet there are limited data regarding the performance of participants with low education. We present results on several measures of executive functions obtained in community-dwelling adults with an overall low education and study the effect of this variable in each test. A sample of 479 adults (64% female, mean age 66.4 years) was assessed by a battery comprising 13 measures of executive function (Trail Making Test; Symbol Search; Matrix reasoning; Semantic and phonemic verbal fluencies; Stroop test; and digit spans). Tests psychometric properties and the effects of age, gender, and education were studied across education levels within each age group. Tests showed good psychometric properties. Education explained more variance than age in the majority of measures, with lower educational levels being significantly associated to worse scores. Tables are presented with mean scores, standard deviation, and the value of extreme percentiles for younger (50-65, N = 232) and older (>65 years, N = 247) × education (0-3, 4, 5-9, and >9 years) subgroups. Education-adjusted norms are necessary for an adequate interpretation of test results. The present data may be useful for clinicians caring for populations with low literacy.
KW - Aging
KW - Education and cognition
KW - Executive function tests
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876676896&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13854046.2012.748094
DO - 10.1080/13854046.2012.748094
M3 - Article
C2 - 23259850
AN - SCOPUS:84876676896
SN - 1385-4046
VL - 27
SP - 410
EP - 425
JO - Clinical Neuropsychologist
JF - Clinical Neuropsychologist
IS - 3
ER -