Abstract

AREVALO AREVALO, Gema  and  CARMONA SIMARRO, José Vicente. Predictive nomogram of verbal fluidity through variables of neuroclinical interest. Ene. [online]. 2020, vol.14, n.1, 14113.  Epub Jan 09, 2020. ISSN 1988-348X.

The increase in life expectancy has led to a progressive ageing of the population and an increase in the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases. Brain degeneration may begin in middle-aged individuals and since in the absence of neurodegenerative pathology there is a progressive loss of synapses during neurosenescence, early detection of some predemential state by means of neuropsychological Verbal Fluidity (VF) tests could prevent most cases of dementia from sporadically appearing.

The main cortical degenerative processes of presenil appearance affect specific cerebral areas causing linguistic alterations such as semantic aphasia -linked with the integrity of the temporal lobes- or phonological -linked with the integrity of the frontal lobes-. VF declines with age, but it is not known exactly if the deterioration patterns are qualitatively different from those observed in the normal aging process.

The sample consisted of 118 subjects: 34.7% men and 65.3% women, with an average age of 52.95 ± 18.87. We analyzed the relationship of age with semantic and phonological VF tests, and the relationship of VF tests to each other. Thus, a multiple regression model -nomogram- was established, becoming a useful prediction instrument in the clinical setting.

The first model established that age is presented as an independent and predictive variable of semantic VF. A second model -R2 62.70%- also demonstrated that the values of the semantic VF and phonological VF tests are shown as predictor variables.

Keywords : Verbal Fluidity test; dementia; nomogram.

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