Comparison of Verbal Episodic Memory Measures: Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease—Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB) versus California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT)

• Published in: Archives of clinical neuropsychology Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 510 - 519
• Main Authors: BECK, Irene R, GAGNEUX-ZURBRIGGEN, Alexa, BERRES, Manfred, TAYLOR, Kirsten I, MONSCH, Andreas U
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01-08-2012
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aging - psychology; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Alzheimer's disease; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Dementia - diagnosis; Dementia - psychology; Dementia disorders; Female; Geriatrics; Humans; Learning; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory, Episodic; Middle Aged; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Registries; Statistics; Verbal Learning; Learning and memory; Verbal learning; Senescence; Cognitive disorder; Alzheimer disease; Neuropsychological test; Cognition; Statistical methods; Elderly/geriatrics/aging; Acquisition process; Language; Degenerative disease; California Verbal Learning Test; Alzheimer's disease; Human; Nervous system diseases; Psychometrics; Cerebral disorder; Verbal memory; Central nervous system disease; mild cognitive impairment; Episodic memory; Elderly; Comparative study; Dementia
• ISSN: 0887-6177; 1873-5843
• DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acs056

Episodic memory is affected early in the course of dementia. Two well-established tests to assess verbal episodic memory functioning are the Word List task from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB) and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). In clinical and/or research settings, patients are typically administered either one or the other test, making statistical comparisons difficult. This study aimed to (i) compare the z-scores of these two tests in patients with MCI and different types of dementia and (ii) establish formulae to transform CERAD-NAB scores into CVLT scores and vice versa. Sixty-five patients completed both tests for the first time and within 10 days of each other. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that the two tests assess similar aspects of episodic memory and that the CVLT is more sensitive to subtle episodic memory impairments. Finally, conversion formulae are provided and their implementation illustrated.