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Category Fluency Test: Normative data for English- and Spanish-speaking elderly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2000

AMARILIS ACEVEDO
Affiliation:
Cognitive Rehabilitation Program, Horizon Health Corporation, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
DAVID A. LOEWENSTEIN
Affiliation:
Cognitive Rehabilitation Program, Horizon Health Corporation, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
WARREN W. BARKER
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
DYLAN G. HARWOOD
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
CHERYL LUIS
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
MARINA BRAVO
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
DEBORAH A. HURWITZ
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
HILDA AGUERO
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
LYNDA GREENFIELD
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida
RANJAN DUARA
Affiliation:
The Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida Department of Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida

Abstract

Category fluency tasks are an important component of neuropsychological assessment, especially when evaluating for dementia syndromes. The growth in the number of Spanish-speaking elderly in the United States has increased the need for appropriate neuropsychological measures and normative data for this population. This study provides norms for English and Spanish speakers, over the age of 50, on 3 frequently used measures of category fluency: animals, vegetables, and fruits. In addition, it examines the impact of age, education, gender, language, and depressed mood on total fluency scores and on scores on each of these fluency measures. A sample of 702 cognitively intact elderly, 424 English speakers, and 278 Spanish speakers, participated in the study. Normative data are provided stratified by language, age, education, and gender. Results evidence that regardless of the primary language of the examinee, age, education, and gender are the strongest predictors of total category fluency scores, with gender being the best predictor of performance after adjusting for age and education. English and Spanish speakers obtained similar scores on animal and fruit fluency, but English speakers generated more vegetable exemplars than Spanish speakers. Results also indicate that different fluency measures are affected by various factors to different degrees. (JINS, 2000, 6, 760–769.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 The International Neuropsychological Society

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