Table 2.
Neuropsychological test results between patients with ALS and healthy controls.
| Cognitive domain | Neuropsychological test measurement | ALS patients (n = 22) |
Healthy controls (n = 17) |
Group differences |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean raw score (SD) | % Impaired | Mean raw score (SD) | % Impaired | F-value | p-value | ||
| Mental status/dementia screen | MMSE total score | 27.41 (2.04) | na | 27.65 (1.50) | na | 0.31 | 0.58 |
| Executive function | COWAT (CFL) total score | 32.77 (9.25) | 4.50 | 49.53 (12.62) | 0.0 | 11.12 | <0.01 |
| Animal Naming total score | 15.91 (4.22) | 36.36 | 22.06 (4.59) | 5.8 | 10.04 | <0.01 | |
| OTMT B seconds | 44.68 (29.62) | 4.50 | 25.56 (15.49) | 0.0 | na | na | |
| OTMT transformed ratio (B seconds/A seconds) | 1.32 (0.55) | na | 1.18 (0.39) | na | 1.19 | 0.28 | |
| Memory/learning | HVLT initial recall, trials 1–3 | 23.86 (5.82) | 31.80 | 27.24 (4.13) | 5.8 | 1.10 | 0.30 |
| HVLT delayed recall, trial 4 | 8.59 (2.40) | 27.3 | 9.94 (1.39) | 0.0 | 1.65 | 0.21 | |
| HVLT discrimination score | 10.18 (1.62) | 18.2 | 11.24 (0.97) | 0.0 | 2.68 | 0.11 | |
| Faces I total score | 34.86 (4.81) | 4.5 | 39.00 (4.47) | 0.0 | 10.390 | <0.01 | |
| Faces II total score | 37.05 (4.87) | 9.0 | 40.65 (2.78) | 0.0 | 6.81 | 0.01 | |
| Attention/concentration | Digit Span total score | 15.68 (3.72) | 4.5 | 18.12 (3.33) | 0.0 | 2.53 | 0.12 |
| Digit Span backward span | 4.50 (1.06) | 0.0 | 5.24 (1.35) | 0.0 | 0.83 | 0.37 | |
| Visuoperceptual | JOLO total score | 23.91 (5.38) | 13.63 | 25.88 (4.26) | 5.8 | 0.05 | 0.83 |
| Language | BNT total score including semantic cues | 56.55 (2.46) | 0.0 | 55.94 (3.15) | 0.0 | 3.95 | 0.06 |
| Depression | GDS (ALS n = 19, HC n = 15) | 2.32 (1.97) | na | 1.07 (1.16) | na | (t) 2.17 | 0.04 |
| BDI (ALS n = 14, HC n = 15) | 5.57 (3.80) | na | 3.00 (2.17) | na | (t) 2.26 | 0.03 | |
| Vegetative symptoms | BDI_veg (ALS n = 14, HC n = 15) | 2.64 (1.74) | na | 1.67 (1.29) | na | (t) 1.73 | 0.10 |
MMSE, Mini-Mental State Exam; COWAT, Controlled Oral Word Association Test; OTMT, Oral Trail-Making Test; HVLT, Hopkins Verbal Learning Test; Faces I & II from the Wechsler Memory Scale III; JOLO, Judgment of Line Orientation; BNT, Boston Naming Test; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; BDI_veg, five questions measuring vegetative symptoms taken from the BDI; % impaired, percent of participants in each group with a z-score < −1.6. Only tests used in the identification of MCI or ALSci were included. Between group statistics from the primary MANCOVA were Bonferroni corrected for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05), education was entered as a covariate and degrees of freedom were 1, 36. Independent sample t-tests were conducted for the GDS, BDI, and BDI_veg. GDS degrees of freedom, 32; BDI degrees of freedom, 27.