Complex oral semantic verbal fluency in non-brain-damaged adults and individuals with multiple sclerosis and subjective anomia

Figures & data

Table 1. Pair-matched participants in MS group and non-brain-damaged (NBD) group

MS group	MS type*	Years since diagnosis	Age	Sex^1	Education in years	NBD group	Age	Sex^1	Education in years
MS-1	RRMS	15	55	F	11	C-1	38	M	12
MS-2	PPMS	2	72	F	10	C-2	72	M	10
MS-3	PPMS	26	72	F	14	C-3	72	F	16
MS-4	SPMS	16	59	F	11	C-4	60	F	10
MS-5	RRMS	8	47	F	17	C-5	45	F	16
MS-6	RRMS	18	38	M	12	C-6	38	M	15
MS-7	RRMS	17	69	F	15	C-7	68	F	16
MS-8	RRMS	16	52	M	14	C-8	51	M	16
MS-9	SPMS	13	57	F	14	C-9	58	F	13
MS-10	RRMS	3	52	F	13	C-10	52	F	17
MS-11	PPMS	4	53	F	14	C-11	52	F	15
MS-12	SPMS	28	68	F	9	C-12	69	F	8
MS-13	RRMS	12	62	F	14	C-13	63	F	17
MS-14	SPMS	7	57	F	15	C-14	60	F	16
MS-15	RRMS	2	40	F	12	C-15	36	M	13
MS-16	PPMS	5	56	M	12	C-16	56	F	9

* RRMS = relapsing-remitting MS; PPMS = primary progressive MS; SPMS = secondary progressive MS; 1. F = female, M = male

Table 2. Mean and standard deviation (SD) for COSEF scores presented by age and education groups (n = 110)

	Age (years)
	18–29		30–64		65–74		75+
Education	0–12	13+	0–12	13+	0–12	13+	0–12	13+
M (SD)	17.17 (2.93) n = 6	19.47 (5.80) n = 17	14.43 (2.76) n = 7	19.46 (5.55) n= 35	11.67 (4.16) n = 12	16.72 (3.30) n = 18	11.60 (5.10) n = 10	18.20 (5.12) n = 5

Table 3. Results from simple and multiple regression analysis of total score in COSEF in terms of unstandardized β-coefficient (std. error), p value, 95% confidence interval (C.I) and adjusted R^2

	Simple regression				Multiple regression
	β (S.E)	95% C.I	p	R2	β (S.E)	95% C.I	p	R2
Age	−.102 (.024)	−.149 – −.055	.000*	.140	−0.78 (.024)	−.125 – −.031	.000*	.218
Education	.717 (.167)	.387–1.047	.000*	.139	.545 (.166)	.215 – .874	.000*
Sex	−1.533 (1.059)	−3.633- .566	.151	.010	−1.201 (.943)	−3.072 − .669	.206

* = statistically significant

Table 4. Results on standard word fluency measures (FAS, animals, and verbs)

	Age, years
	18–29		30–64		65–74		75+
Education	0–12	13+	0–12	13+	0–12	13+	0–12	13+
	n = 6	n = 17	n = 7	n = 35	n = 12	n = 18	n = 10	n = 5
FAS^a	35.83 (4.79)	45.00 (10.33)	33.71 (9.46)	47.66 (11.39)	35.83 (12.09)	42.83 (9.56)	31.40 (10.98)	39.40 (6.23)
Animals ^b	21.83 (4.71)	24.00 (5.50)	21.14 (6.84)	24.54 (6.21)	21.83 (8.29)	21.89 (4.75)	14.50 (3.06)	20.60 (3.44)
Verbs^c	14.67 (5.09)	19.76 (4.48)	17.71 (6.45)	21.06 (5.85)	14.08 (5.96)	18.11 (6.09)	10.90 (5.55)	19.80 (4.21)

^{a, b, c} = Normative data for the Swedish population (Tallberg et al., 2008)

^a = Age 16–29, education level 0–12: 37.5 (11.4); education level 13+: 42.4 (10.0). Age 30–64, education level 0–12: 42.3 (10.0); education level 13+: 49.0 (13.3). Age 65–89, education level 0–12: 36.6 (15.1); education level 13+: 45.2 (10.1).

^b = Age 16–29, education level 0–12: 23.0 (4.0); education level 13+: 26.4 (5.1). Age 30–64, education level 0–12: 24.9 (6.4); education level 13+: 27.1 (5.4). Age 65–89, education level 0–12: 17.8 (5.7); education level 13+: 20.6 (5.7).

^c = Age 16–29, education level 0–12: 17.0 (3.7); education level 13+: 23.0 (6.3). Age 30–64, education level 0–12: 17.1 (4.7); education level 13+: 22.3 (6.4). Age 65–89, education level 0–12: 14.9 (6.4); education level 13+: 19.4 (5.6).

Table 5. Scores for individual participants with MS on established word fluency measures and COSEF and scores for matched controls on COSEF

Participant with MS	FAS	Action verbs	Animals	COSEF total	Inadequate responses	Repetitions	Control participant	COSEF total	Inadequate responses	Repetitions
MS-1	19	15^†	20^†	5*	1	0	C-1	12	0	0
MS-2	14	12^†	7	6*	0	0	C-2	14	3	0
MS-3	32	17^†	19^†	13	5	1	C-3	14	3	0
MS-4	33^†	7	28^†	15^††	6	1	C-4	15	11	0
MS-5	42^†	21^†	23^†	17^††	7	0	C-5	17	5	0
MS-6	20	12^†	14	6*	10	0	C-6	13	15	0
MS-7	50^†	19^†	19^†	20^††	2	0	C-7	14	8	1
MS-8	16	10	18	14^††	4	2	C-8	19	2	0
MS-9	38^†	19^†	26^†	17^††	3	0	C-9	32	5	0
MS-10	37	16	18	17^††	6	0	C-10	18	10	0
MS-11	35	18^†	24^†	15^††	11	0	C-11	25	21	0
MS-12	15	4	9	4*	6	0	C-12	9	0	1
MS-13	70^†	16^†	24^†	23^††	6	2	C-13	19	7	0
MS-14	41^†	13	25^†	4*	0	0	C-14	13	4	0
MS-15	29	9	13	14^††	3	0	C-15	28	4	0
MS-16	36^†	22^†	23^†	11	2	1	C-16	18	0	0
Mean (Standard deviation)				12.6 (6.0)	4.5 (3.3)	0,4 (0.7)		17.5 (6.2)	6.1 (5.8)	0.1 (0.3)

^† = Performs within one standard deviation below mean score for reference group with corresponding age, gender, and education presented in Tallberg et al. (2008)

^†† = Performs within one standard deviation below mean score on COSEF for reference group with corresponding age, gender, and education.

* = Difference significant at p < .05 compared to mean scores obtained in the matched control group (modified t-test; Crawford & Howell, 1998)

Tallberg, I., Ivachova, E., Jones Tinghag, K., & Östberg, P. (2008). Swedish norms for word fluency tests: FAS, animals and verbs. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 49, 479–485. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00653.x

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Crawford, J. R., & Howell, D. C. (1998). Comparing an individual’s test score against norms derived from small samples. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 12, 482–486. doi:10.1076/clin.12.4.482.7241

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