The 10-word learning task in the differential diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease and elderly depression: A cross-sectional pilot study

Abstract

Objectives: Identification of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become very important. Episodic memory tasks appear to have predictive power for indicating early AD. Deficits in encoding and storage processes that are characteristic of AD, however, must be distinguished from non-AD deficits that can also affect memory, including difficulties that may be present in depression. This pilot study was set up to ascertain whether a 10-word-list-learning task (delayed recognition and rate of forgetting) may be useful in making the differentiation between mild AD and depression.

Method: A Dutch version of Rey's auditory verbal learning test was administered to 36 mild AD patients, 41 depressed patients, and 47 healthy controls. Data were analyzed in a cross-sectional manner.

Results: Receiver operating characteristic analyses showed that for differentiating mild AD and depression, both delayed recognition and percentage of forgetting have sufficient diagnostic accuracy.

Conclusion: Percentage of forgetting had the highest diagnostic accuracy for differentiating mild AD and depressed patients and may be useful in the early detection of AD.

Keywords:

• dementia
• elderly depression
• memory
• recognition
• delayed recall
• serial verbal learning test

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Research Fund of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (OZR) and the Special Research Fund of the University of Antwerp, Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek, the Thomas Riellaerts Research Fund, the Institute Born-Bunge, the Agreement between the Institute Born-Bunge and the University of Antwerp, Medical Research Foundation Antwerp, Neurosearch Antwerp, the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO–F), the Institute for Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen), and the InterUniversity Attraction Poles (IAP) program P6/43 of the Belgian Federal Science Policy office (BELSPO). We thank Karen Maertens and Michael Van Buggenhout for their assistance in the recruitment of the study population and the following psychiatric institutions for giving the opportunity of testing the patients: Broeders Alexianen Tienen, Sint-Norbertus Duffel, Sint-Jozef Pittem, and Sint-Jozef Kortenberg.

Conflict of interest: None.