A verb-naming test accurately detects cognitive changes in ALS

Verb-naming tests were proposed for detecting cognitive impairment in ALS, although statistical evidence on their clinical usefulness is still lacking. A total of 29 ALS patients and 29 demographic-matched healthy controls (HCs) were administered the Action-Verb-Naming Test (AVNT), a standardized pi...

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Published in:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal degeneration 2022-11, Vol.23 (7-8), p.630-633
Main Authors: Aiello, Edoardo Nicolò, Pain, Debora, Radici, Alice, Sideri, Riccardo, Marinou Aktipi, Kalliopi, Mora, Gabriele, Luzzatti, Claudio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - complications
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - diagnosis
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - psychology
Cognition
Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology
Humans
Language
Neuropsychological Tests
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Summary:Verb-naming tests were proposed for detecting cognitive impairment in ALS, although statistical evidence on their clinical usefulness is still lacking. A total of 29 ALS patients and 29 demographic-matched healthy controls (HCs) were administered the Action-Verb-Naming Test (AVNT), a standardized picture-naming task of actions. Patients were also administered the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioral ALS Screen (ECAS), and classified according to Strong et al. (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-frontotemporal spectrum disorder (ALS-FTSD): revised diagnostic criteria. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2017;18:153-4) criteria. The AVNT discriminated ALS patients from HCs (  = 0.026) and yielded high accuracy in detecting cognitive impairments among ALS patients (88% of accuracy; sensitivity = 1; specificity = 0.84; PPV = 0.5; NPV = 1; LR+ = 3.83; LR- = 0), as well as a below-cutoff performance on the ECAS (AUC = 0.74). The AVNT was unrelated to other clinical variables, despite being strongly associated with ECAS total, ALS-specific, Language and Executive scores ( = 0.65-0.75). These findings show that verb naming is an accurate test to detect domain-specific cognitive changes in ALS patients, regardless of their disease phenotype.
ISSN:2167-8421
2167-9223
DOI:10.1080/21678421.2022.2085512