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Objective: This study aimed to provide updated normative data for one of the widely used neuropsychological assessment tools, namely verbal fluency tests, and examine their reliability and validity. Materials and Methods: To establish normative data stratified by gender, age and education, a total of 1,431 healthy participants were administered phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tests. Concurrent validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability analyses were conducted. The effect of gender, age and education was tested through stepwise linear regression analysis. Results: The results revealed good internal consistency and acceptable level of test-retest reliability for verbal fluency tests. While gender did not have any effect on test performance, the combined contribution of age and education on phonemic and semantic fluency performance were 37% and 25%, respectively. Verbal fluency performance decreased as a function of age, whereas it increased as a function of education. Conclusion: The normative data for phonemic and semantic fluency performance between the ages 18 and 89 stratified by four education levels was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Patients with schizophrenia exhibit a wide range of cognitive dysfunction, including impairments in semantic memory and verbal fluency. Previous studies report that semantic memory, i.e. associated meaning of words or knowledge, is specifically disorganized in patients who use the English or Japanese language. The purpose of the present study was to determine if semantic memory, as evaluated by verbal fluency data, shows similar patterns of semantic disorganization in non-English-speaking patients who do (Turkish) or do not (Japanese) use an alphabetical language. Turkish (N =20) and Japanese (N =22) patients with schizophrenia, as well as Japanese normal controls (N =22), entered the study. As a measure of semantic memory organization, two types of cluster analyses, i.e. ADDTREE and hierarchical cluster analysis, were performed on category fluency task data. The cluster analyses revealed a greater similarity between the Turkish patients vs. Japanese patients comparison than the Japanese patients vs. Japanese controls comparison. The results provide further support to the concept that impaired semantic memory organization is one of the core features of schizophrenia, and is independent of the language system or cultural backgrounds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective : To assess the neuropsychological status of pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and its relationship with clinical variables in a longitudinal study. Methods : Patients with MS (n = 46) and age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects (HCs, n = 53) were given tests of non-verbal reasoning, attention/concentration, visuospatial judgement and verbal fluency at baseline visit and after 2 years of follow-up. Cognitive impairment was defined as a failure on at least three of the four tests. Patients were grouped according to the age of disease onset (≤12 years as group 1 and > 12 years as group 2). Results : Cognitive impairment was detected in 22 of 46 patients at follow-up (47.8%). Patients with cognitive worsening had higher EDSS scores at follow-up compared to cognitively improved/stable group (0.68 ± 1.16 vs 0.04 ± 0.2, p = 0.01). The most affected domains were attention/concentration and non-verbal reasoning. Comparison between baseline and follow-up tests showed impairment in non-verbal reasoning over time in group 1 patients while other functions improved over time in patient and control groups as expected. Conclusion : Pediatric MS is likely to affect patients' cognition concurrently with their disability levels. This effect is significant in the non-verbal reasoning area in patients with disease onset before age 12 years. A practical method assessing this function should be part of these patients' regular follow-up for optimal treatment, prevention and rehabilitation.