Em busca de um diagnóstico precoce de demência de Alzheimer

: desvendando o MIST no defeito cognitivo ligeiro

Abstract

Theoretical Background: Prospective Memory (PM) is defined as the memoryfor future intentions and it is considered a fundamental requirement for autonomy,especially for the elderly. Theoretical background suggests that patients with MildCognitive Impairment (MCI), a condition that frequently precedes dementia, presentpremature PM deficits, indicating that PM assessment in these patients may contributeto an early diagnosis of the condition, motivating a more effective intervention againstthe associated cognitive impairment. However, some literature indicates that the toolsused today in clinical practice for PM assessment still lack in scope and ecologicalvalidity, particularly in the Portuguese context. The Memory for Intentions Test (MIST)(Raskin, 2009) is a recently-developed PM assessment tool, providing useful measuresto respond to this clinical hiatus, since it has already revealed adequate psychometriccharacteristics, as well as clinical utility for various pathologies.This project’s goal is to test the clinical utility of a Portuguese version of theMIST in a sample with MCI and healthy patients, ascertaining the relevance of a futurevalidation of this test for the Portuguese population.Methodology: A convenience sample composed of 68 participants, 40 healthyparticipants and 28 MCI patients, was recruited for this project. The MIST and aneuropsychological battery were administered to all participants.Results – Results showed performance in the MIST to be significantly better forhealthy patients than for MCI patients, particularly for the prospective component.However, all participants presented a worse performance on prospective componentsof the MIST than on the retrospective component. Additionally, a repeated measuresANOVA revealed that all participants showed greater difficulties in time-based tasksthan on the event-based tasks. Finally, correlation analyses indicated that the MISTtotal score was significantly associated with attentional, executive and retrospectivememory measures.Discussion: This investigation suggests that this Portuguese-translated versionof the MIST is clinically useful for the clinical practice, having proven to distinguishhealthy participants PM performance from that of MCI patients. Given that theseevidences have mainly been found in laboratorial context, this investigation’s resultsseem to constitute a significant clinical gain in the PM’s context.Furthermore, results showed that the MIST is able to differentiate participants’performance as a function of the nature of the PM tasks, as well as its components.These findings are consistent with existing literature, especially that relating to Multi-Process Theory.In conclusion, the results of this study indicate that the Portuguese version ofthe MIST gathers the necessary requirements to be considered a useful, detailed andecological clinical tool to assess PM, constituting a basis for a future validation of theMIST for the Portuguese population.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Antonina Pereira (Supervisor)