Japanese version of the Frontal Assessment Battery for dementia

• Published in: Psychiatry research 2007-09, Vol.153 (1), p.69-75
• Main Authors: Kugo, Aki, Terada, Seishi, Ata, Toshie, Ido, Yumiko, Kado, Yoko, Ishihara, Takeshi, Hikiji, Mitsuru, Fujisawa, Yoshikatsu, Sasaki, Ken, Kuroda, Shigetoshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Alzheimer's disease; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - physiopathology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive dysfunction; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Dementia - diagnosis; Dementia - physiopathology; Dementia - psychology; Dementia, Vascular - diagnosis; Dementia, Vascular - physiopathology; Dementia, Vascular - psychology; Female; Frontal assessment battery; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Frontotemporal dementia; Humans; Japan; Language; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Vascular dementia; Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.04.004

Abstract The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) was developed as a short bedside cognitive and behavioral battery to assess frontal lobe functions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of a Japanese version of the FAB to measure cognitive dysfunction in patients with dementia. We studied 25 normal subjects and 105 patients with Alzheimer's disease, n = 58, vascular dementia, n = 24, and frontotemporal dementia, n = 23. The neuropsychological test battery included the FAB, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), a memory test, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Keio version: KWCST). Patients with dementia performed significantly more poorly than controls on all tests. The FAB showed a good correlation with other cognitive measures: MMSE ( r = 0.725), KWCST number of categories completed ( r = 0.654), KWCST number of perseveration errors ( r = − 0.484), and memory test ( r = 0.643). Patients with more severe Clinical Dementia Rating scores showed lower scores on the FAB. There was good inter-rater reliability ( r = 0.972), test–retest reliability ( r = 0.769), and internal consistency (Cronbach's coefficient alpha = 0.715). The FAB is a valid and reliable screening test to evaluate cognitive dysfunction among patients with dementia.