Validity and Reliability of the New Chinese Version of the Frontal Assessment Battery-Phonemic

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Li, Xudong^{a; b; *} | Shen, Miaoxin^c | Jin, Yi^d | Jia, Shuhong^d | Zhou, Zhi^d | Han, Ziling^a | Zhang, Xiangfei^d | Tong, Xiaopeng^c | Jiao, Jinsong^d

Affiliations: [a] Department of Cognitive Disorder, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China | [b] China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China | [c] Medical School, Xizang Minzu University, Xianyang, China | [d] Department of Neurology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Xudong Li, Department of Cognitive Disorder, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Fengtai District, South 4th Ring Road West 119, Beijing 100070, China. Tel.: +86 10 59975031; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Background:Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD) is an important health problem in the world. Objective:The present study investigated the validity and reliability of a new version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) named the FAB-phonemic (FAB-P). Methods:A total of 76 patients with ADD, 107 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), 37 patients with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), and 123 healthy controls were included in this study. All participants were evaluated with the FAB-P and the cognitive assessments according to a standard procedure. Results:The global FAB-P scores in patients with ADD were lower than those of patients with aMCI, patients with naMCI, and healthy controls (p < 0.001). Patients with aMCI performed worse than healthy controls (p < 0.001). The interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the FAB-P were 0.997, 0.819, and 0.736, respectively. The test could distinguish the patients with mild ADD, aMCI, and naMCI from healthy controls with classification accuracy of 89.4%, 70.9%, and 61.6%, respectively. It could also discriminate between the patients with ADD and aMCI, between those with ADD and naMCI, and between those with aMCI and naMCI with classification accuracy of 73.8%, 83.9%, and 58.0%, respectively. The regression analysis revealed that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the Stroop Color Word Test Part C had the greatest contribution to FAB-P score variance. Conclusion:The FAB-P is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating frontal lobe function and can effectively discriminate ADD, aMCI, and naMCI.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease dementia, Frontal Assessment Battery, mild cognitive impairment, phonetics

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-201028

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 371-381, 2021