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Biomedical subjects

Mindy Katz

Publications and source records attributed to Mindy Katz.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Walking while talking: effect of task prioritization in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of 2 instructions on the same walking while talking (WWT) task on task prioritization by nondisabled subjects. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey with within subject comparisons. SETTING: Community-based sample. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults (N=189; mean age, 80.2+/-4.9y), who did not meet criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, for dementia and were able to independently perform activities of daily living. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Verbal and gait measures on the same WWT task with 2 different instructions: paying attention to both talking and walking (WWT-C) and paying attention only to talking (WWT-T). RESULTS: Task prioritization effects were seen on walking but not on talking. Compared with their baseline normal walking velocity (without talking), subjects slowed down more on WWT-T (median change, 28.3%) than WWT-C (median change, 26.4%). Comparing the 2 WWT conditions, velocity and cadence was slower during WWT-T compared with WWT-C, with longer stride length. Verbal output was not significantly different on the 2 conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Changing instructions while maintaining the same cognitive and motor tasks on WWT in older adults result in task prioritization effects.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2006

Increased frequency of the LRRK2 G2019S mutation in an elderly Ashkenazi Jewish population is not associated with dementia.

Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene (LRRK2) have been associated with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), as well as pleomorphic neurodegenerative pathology, including Alzheimer's disease. One specific LRRK2 mutation, G2019S, was reported in 18% of people with PD of Ashkenazi descent, supporting a founder effect in this population. To determine if this mutation is also associated with dementia in the Ashkenazim, we screened 192 elderly Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) individuals in a longitudinal aging and cognition study, of whom 49 (25.5%) had dementia. Two non-demented individuals harbored the mutation (2/143, 1.4%), but no individuals with dementia. Neither person with the mutation had Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the LRRK2 mutation has a relatively high frequency in the AJ population, is not fully penetrant for parkinsonism in the elderly, and does not appear to be commonly associated with late-onset dementia.

Aged, 80 and over↗
PubMed2006

Retention weighted recall improves discrimination of Alzheimer's disease.

Impaired recall for early items (primacy) and late items (recency) on word list recall tests are seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared conventional scoring on the Telephone Instrument for Cognitive Status (TICS) recall list with scorings based on retention-weighted recall (RWR: each item weighted by its serial position) in older adults participating in a community-based aging study. Subjects with mild AD (N=18) did not differ from those without dementia (N=231) with respect to recency (46% vs. 59%, p = 0.2), but had impaired primacy (2% vs. 39%, p < .001) on word recall on the TICS. RWR scoring improved the effect size (1.52 SD) compared to conventional scoring (1.08 SD). With a fixed sensitivity of 85%, specificity was lower using conventional scoring (56%) than RWR (76%) scoring. Our findings suggest that optimized RWR scoring of word list free recall can improve detection of mild AD compared to conventional scoring.

Aging↗
PubMed2004

Detecting dementia with the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test and the Mini-Mental State Examination.

The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were administered to 323 non-demented elderly and 70 individuals who meet DSM-IV criteria for dementia in order to compare the validity of these two measures for detecting mild dementia and for the two most common dementia subtypes, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). The study was conducted in an elderly, ethnically diverse community-dwelling population. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated over a range of clinically relevant cut scores for each test. We analyzed the influence of age, education, reading ability and sex on test performance using logistic regression models. When sensitivity is held constant at 0.69, the specificity for the HVLT total recall was 0.89 and the MMSE 0.82 for all dementias (P=.10). Age, sex and education did not significantly influence test performance for either test in this sample. Results were similar for AD and VaD. However, while adding a measure of reading ability to the regression models did not affect the overall dementia model, it resulted in improved specificities when combined with the MMSE for AD and combined with the HVLT for VaD. Additional tests such as reading ability can improve discrimination of dementia subtypes. The modest sensitivity of either the HVLT or the MMSE alone suggests that further neuropsychological evaluation is required to confirm dementia diagnosis.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Screening for Alzheimer's disease: the memory impairment screen versus the conventional three-word memory test.

OBJECTIVES: To improve screening for Alzheimer's disease (AD) with the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS), a 4-minute, four-item delayed free and cued recall memory test with controlled learning and high discriminative validity. To assess the discriminative validity of the MIS for AD and to compare it with the conventional three-word memory test, a delayed free recall task, widely recommended as a dementia-screening test in clinical practice. DESIGN: Cross-sectional validation study nested within a longitudinal study of aging and dementia. The MIS and the standard three-word memory task were administered as part of a comprehensive neurological and neuropsychological evaluation. SETTING: Einstein Aging Study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred forty community-dwelling older adults. MEASUREMENTS: Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated for the MIS and three-word memory test as screening tests for AD. RESULTS: In comparison with the three-word memory task, the MIS had higher sensitivity (.86 vs.65), higher specificity (.97 vs.85), and greater PPV (.80 vs.37) as a screen for AD. CONCLUSIONS: The MIS had high discriminative validity as a screening test for AD and substantially outperformed the three-word memory task. Given its validity and brevity, the MIS has important advantages as an AD screen for use in primary care.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Validity of divided attention tasks in predicting falls in older individuals: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVES: Although cognitive impairment is known to be a major risk factor for falls in older individuals, the role of cognitive tests in predicting falls has not been established. Limited attentional resources may increase the risk for falls in older individuals. We examined the reliability and validity of divided attention tasks, walking while talking (WWT), in predicting falls. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study of 12-months' duration. SETTING: Community-based longitudinal aging study, the Einstein Aging Study. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty nondemented community-living subjects, aged 65 to 98 (mean age +/- standard deviation = 79.6 +/- 6.3). MEASUREMENTS: Simple and complex versions of the WWT task in addition to standard balance and cognitive assessments. The primary outcome was cumulative incidence of falls at 12 months. RESULTS: Thirteen subjects fell over the 12 months, four of whom had major injuries. The WWT task had good interrater reliability (r = 0.602, P <.001). Poor performance on simple (odds ratio (OR) = 7.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.7-29.4) and complex WWT tasks (OR = 13.7, 95% CI = 2.3-83.6) was highly predictive of falls. The simple task had a sensitivity of 46% and specificity of 89%. For the complex task, sensitivity was 39%, and specificity was 96%. CONCLUSIONS: The WWT is a reliable and valid test to identify older individuals at high risk for falls. Future studies with larger sample sizes and in different settings are needed to confirm the findings of this study.

Accidental Falls↗