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The International Working Group on Alzheimer's disease ( AD) suggested the free and cued selective reminding test ( FCSRT) to assess memory, as it showed high sensitivity and specificity in the differentiation of AD from healthy controls and other dementias. The FCSRT involves the use of selective reminding with semantic cueing in memory assessment. This study aims to validate the FCSRT for mild cognitive impairment ( MCI) and AD through the analysis of the diagnostic accuracy and the suggestion of cut-off scores. Patients were classified into two groups according to standard criteria: MCI ( n = 100) and AD ( n = 70). A matched control group ( n = 101) of cognitively healthy subjects was included. The reliability and the validity of the FCSRT were analysed on the immediate ( IR) and delayed ( DR) recalls. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.915 for the IR and 0.879 for the DR. The total recall measures revealed good areas under the curve for MCI ( IR: .818; DR: .828) and excellent for AD ( IR: .987; DR: .991). Furthermore, the MCI group was subdivided with respect to a non-similar/similar AD pattern of impairment, with almost half of the subjects showing an AD-like decline. This analysis represents a novel contribution regarding the properties of the FCSRT in illustrating the heterogeneity of MCI at baseline. The FCSRT has proved to be a very useful tool in the characterization of the memory impairment of the AD spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients carry a greater risk of conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, the International Working Group (IWG) on AD aims to consider some cases of aMCI as symptomatic prodromal AD. The core diagnostic marker of AD is a significant and progressive memory deficit, and the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) was recommended by the IWG to test memory in cases of possible prodromal AD. This study aims to investigate whether the performance on the FCSRT would enhance the ability to predict conversion to AD in an aMCI group. A longitudinal study was conducted on 88 aMCI patients, and neuropsychological tests were analysed on the relative risk of conversion to AD. During follow-up (23.82 months), 33% of the aMCI population converted to AD. An impaired FCSRT TR was significantly associated with the risk of conversion to dementia, with a mean time to conversion of 25 months. The FCSRT demonstrates utility for detecting AD at its prodromal stage, thus supporting its use as a valid clinical marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The Logical Memory ( LM) and the Verbal Paired Associative Learning ( VPAL) are subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale commonly used to characterize the memory deficit of amnestic mild cognitive impairment ( aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease ( AD). The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test ( FCSRT) was suggested to assess the memory impairment of AD spectrum patients by the International Working Group on AD. In the present study, we compared the properties of the tests and their accuracy in classifying aMCI and AD. Methods A group of aMCI patients ( n = 85) and AD patients ( n = 43) were included. The reliability and the validity of the three tests were analyzed. Results AD patients showed a significant pattern of worse impairment on all tests than aMCI. The FCSRT was able to classify more patients as having memory impairment in the aMCI group rather than the WMS subtests. The FCSRT proved to be good in discriminating the two groups in both lower and higher educational levels, whereas the LM was more useful in higher educated patients. Conclusions Although the instruments had good results, the FCSRT was more accurate in discriminating MCI from AD, and less influenced by the educational level. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; 15: 961-968. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]