J Korean Med Sci.  2010 Jul;25(7):1071-1076. 10.3346/jkms.2010.25.7.1071.

Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery-Dementia Version (SNSB-D): A Useful Tool for Assessing and Monitoring Cognitive Impairments in Dementia Patients

• Ahn HJ
• Chin J
• Park A
• Lee BH
• Suh MK
• Seo SW
• Na DL

• KMID: 1792959
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2010.25.7.1071

Abstract

The Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) is one of the standardized neuropsychological test batteries widely used in Korea. However, it may be a bit too lengthy for patients with decreased attention span; and it does not provide the score of global cognitive function (GCF), which is useful for monitoring patients longitudinally. We sought to validate a dementia version of SNSB (SNSB-D) that was shorter than the original SNSB and contained only scorable tests with a GCF score of 300. We administered SNSB-D to patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n=43) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n=93), and normal controls (NC) (n=77). MCI and AD groups had GCF scores significantly different from NC group, and GCF scores were able to distinguish patients with Clinical Dementia Rating of 0.5 and 1. Test-retest reliability was high, with a correlation coefficient of 0.918 for AD, 0.999 for MCI, and 0.960 for NC. The GCF score significantly correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Through ROC-curve analysis, GCF scores were found to yield more accurate diagnoses than the MMSE. The SNSB-D is a valid, reliable tool for assessing the overall cognitive function, and can be used to monitor cognitive changes in patients with dementia.

Keyword

Neuropsychological Tests; Alzheimer's Disease; Dementia; Validity; Reliability

MeSH Terms

Alzheimer Disease/diagnosis/physiopathology
Cognition Disorders/*diagnosis/etiology/physiopathology
Dementia/complications/*diagnosis/physiopathology
Humans
Korea
*Neuropsychological Tests/standards
ROC Curve
Reproducibility of Results
Severity of Illness Index

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curves for the MMSE and the SNSB-D, divided by group.

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