LAS‐Face‐ Name Associative Memory Exam: Discriminant validity for the detection of associative memory disorders in people with mild cognitive impairment in Argentina

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe Latin American Spanish version of the Face‐Name Associative Memory Exam (LAS‐FNAME) is a validated version of the test that has been used to detect subtle cognitive changes in cognitively unimpaired adults at increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Performance in this test has also been associated with markers of brain pathology in cognitively unimpaired older adults at increased risk for AD due to genetic factors or subjective cognitive decline (Papp et al., 2014;Vila‐Castelar et al., 2020). However, this test has not yet been used for the detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in the Latin American population. This study aims to analyze the discriminative validity and diagnostic performance of the LAS FNAME for the detection of verbal associative memory disorders in patients with MCI.MethodWe recruited 30 patients with MCI according to Petersen’s criteria (2010) and 20 healthy controls matched by age, sex and educational level. All participants completed the LAS‐FNAME, which consists of 12 learning trials of novel pairs of face‐names (immediate learning), followed by a delayed recall condition, and a neuropsychological assessment that included: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Craft Story 21, Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ‐S) and a Functional Activity Questionnaire (FAQ).ResultThe groups did not differ in age, sex or education (p = 0.25, p = 0.54, p = 0.54). The age range was 61 to 86 years (M = 74.66; SD = 6.65) and the education range was 7 to 18 years (M = 14.63; SD = 3.41). The LAS‐FNAME showed an ability to discriminate against healthy controls from patients with MCI, both in its immediate (AUC = 0.81) and delayed (AUC = 0.79) conditions. The predictive ability was superior than a screening measure (MoCA, AUC = 0.74). The sensitivity and specificity was 68.4% and 89.3%, respectively. The LAS‐FNAME also showed evidence of concurrent validity with a standard memory test (Craft Story 21) in both immediate (r = 0.52, p<0.01) and delayed (r = 0.63, p<0.01) conditions, and reliability was excellent (α = 0.91).ConclusionPerformance on the LAS‐FNAME was able to distinguish MCI patients from healthy controls, suggesting that the LAS‐FNAME can detect early cognitive changes in prodromal stages of Alzheimer’s disease in Spanish‐speaking individuals.