Table 1. Mean (+S.D.) Demographic and Cognitive Performance.
ALS | ALS-FTD | ALS Total | Control | |
---|---|---|---|---|
n | 47 | 9 | 56 | 29 |
Age (years) | 58.19 (13.04) | 62.44 (9.81) | 58.88 (12.59)* | 67.76 (7.67) |
Education (years) | 15.09 (2.80) | 14.11 (3.41) | 14.93 (2.89) | 16.07 (2.67) |
Gender (M/F) | 29/18 | 6/3 | 35/21 | 13/16 |
Disease Duration (months) | 6.85 (8.66) | 5.40 (6.62) | 6.71 (8.44) | |
Functional Rating Scale (n=52) | 34.13 (8.48) | 38.57 (3.05) | 34.73 (8.10) | |
MMSE (n=56) | 27.85 (3.23) | 24.89 (6.33)* | 27.38 (4.00)* | 29.25 (1.11) |
Visual Verbal Test (VVT) | ||||
Initial Categorization Failures | 0.04 (0.20) | 0.22 (0.67) | 0.07 (0.32) | 0.00 (0.00) |
Cognitive Flexibility (max=10) | 8.55 (2.40)* | 6.67 (4.03)* | 8.25 (2.77)* | 9.41 (1.15) |
Letter Fluency (n=47)1 | ||||
Words/minute Total | 11.63 (5.31)* | 6.81 (1.26)ˆ* | 10.91 (5.21)* | 14.31 (5.20) |
Digit Span (n=45)2 | ||||
Digits Forward | 6.72 (1.24) | 6.80 (0.84) | 6.69 (1.10) | 6.95 (1.17) |
Digits Backwards | 4.24 (1.763) | 4.20 (1.30) | 4.33 (1.49) | 5.09 (1.74) |
Notes
We combined the number of F words/minute obtained from a generation task (FAS task, n=30) where subjects are required to provide as many words that begin with the letters F, A, or S as possible within sixty seconds (Spreen & Struss, 1990) and a similar measure task is used where subjects only provide words that begin with the letter F (F words generation task, n=17). This was necessitated by having changed our procedure for collecting letter fluency, and we maximized available data by focusing on category letter fluency for F words.
In digit span forward, subjects are required to repeat a series of number sequences that become progressively longer; backward digit span requires subjects to repeat the number sequences in the reverse order of which they are presented.
ALS differs from controls p<0.05;
ALS differs from ALS-FTD p<0.05