Semantic Verbal Fluency: Normative Data in Older Spanish Adults From NEDICES Population-Based Cohort

Abstract

OBJECTIVE We aimed to provide the normative data stratified by age, sex and educational attainment for two semantic categories (animal and fruits) in older Spanish adults. METHOD A representative sample of 2,744 non-demented older individuals with different socioeconomic background was selected from the Neurological Disorders in Central Spain (NEDICES), a population-based study. Normative data are presented in percentile ranks and divided into four age-tables with different midpoints, using the overlapping interval procedure. RESULTS Correlation analyses showed that age, education and sex influence significantly the scores in both semantic tasks. Normative data presented here covered two urban (Margaritas & Lista) and one rural areas (Arévalo). CONCLUSION These norms may provide useful data for screening cognitive impairment more accurately in Spanish older adults.