Applying the German Version of the TOMMORROW Neuropsychological Assessment Battery for the diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Clinical and Research Settings

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAmong cognitively healthy participants, the TOMMORROW study (NCT01931566) aimed to identify those who went on to develop MCI due to AD over time (see Burns et al., 2021). Thus, based on the criteria of DSM‐5 and Albert et al. (2011) a battery of neuropsychological tests, i.e., TOMMORROW Neuropsychological Assessment battery (TOMM‐NAB) was compiled to assess cognition: memory (California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT‐II) long‐delay free recall, CVLT‐II short‐delay free recall, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test–Revised (BVMT‐R) delayed recall); executive function (Trail Making Test (TMT) B, digit span backward); language (semantic fluency (animals), lexical fluency (S‐, D, F‐words), Multilingual Naming Test (MiNT)); attention (TMT A, digit span forward) and visuospatial function (Clock Drawing Test (CDT), BVMT‐R copy). For the study subjects at the German‐speaking TOMMORROW study site, normative data were collected from 198 cognitively healthy individuals (see Romero et al., 2018). The goal of this study was to make the normative data of this excellent NAB available to clinicians and researchers in German‐speaking Europe.MethodIn order to provide clinicians and researchers with demographically‐corrected standard scores for all TOMM‐NAB variables, raw scores of the TOMM‐NAB were analyzed using the predicted sums of square (PRESS) statistics for variable selection and optimal nonlinear transformation to achieve normally distributed residuals. The following type of models were analyzed for each TOMM‐NAB variable: standard score = ((transformed) raw score ‐ predicted value) divided by residual standard error. The selection of terms was based on the PRESS ststistic (see Berres et al.2008 for details)ResultThe Figure provides an impression of the resulting TOMM‐NAB neurocognitive profile. Bars illustrate deviations from normal zero in terms of standard deviations.ConclusionThe German version of the TOMM‐NAB can now be made available to clinicians and researchers and will allow for the best possible assessment with a set of sophisticated neuropsychological paper‐pencil tests.ReferenceBurns et al. Lancet Neurol 2021;20(7):537‐47. Albert et al. Alzheimers Dement 2011;7:270‐9. Romero et al. Alzheimers Dement 2018;4:314‐23. Berres et al. Statistics in Medicine 2008;27(10):1777‐90.