Comparison of younger and older healthy American adults on the loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment

Abstract

This study compared the performance of healthy young adults (ages 17-25) with the performance of healthy older adults (ages 40-75) on the Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA), a cognitive evalua' tion consisting of 20 subtests divided into four areas, (Orientation, Perception, Visuomotor Organisation, and Thinking Operations). The purpose was to: 1) ascertain whether significantly fewer older subjects than younger subjects would achieve a maximum score on each of the subtests of the LOTCA; 2) determine ii;hether older adults would perform significantly more slowly than younger adults on the Visuomotor Organisation subtests of the LOTCA; 3) examine whether performance of American adults was similar to the standardisation sample of Israeli adults. Forty-nine older adult subjects and 49 younger adult subjects were tested on the LOTCA. All the younger adult subjects and 14 older adult subjects were also timed on the seven subtests of the Visuomotor Organisation area. Results indicated that older adults took significantly longer than younger adults to complete six of the seven subtests. Based on the study's results, it appears that separate LOTCA norms for accuracy are not required across these two age groups and that time can be used to differentiate performance between healthy normal older and younger adults on the Visuomotor Organisation subtests. Additionally, performance of normal American adults is similar to Israeli adults, thus supporting the use of the LOTCA in the United States. 1996 Whurr Publishers Ltd.