Verbal fluency: A rapid neuropsychological test for the detection of cognitive disorders in pediatrics

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Verbal fluency is a brief psychometric test used in neuropsychological assessments to study executive and verbal functions. Pediatric population performance in this trial has not been thoroughly studied. We also did not find studies in pediatrics that analyze the phonological verbal fluency (FF) in relation to the intellectual level using the Spanish version with initial letters "P" and "M".

OBJECTIVE:

Analyze FF performance based on intellectual level and diagnosis.

METHODS:

It's a cross-section research. We included patients between 6 and 16 years old with neuropsychological assessment with intellectual level (WISCIV) and FF (NEPSYII) between January and June of 2016. A simple linear regression was performed to analyze the relationship between FF and the rest of the variables.

RESULTS:

We included 95 patients, mean age of 10 years. The FF showed a positive correlation with the total intellectual level (ITC) (r = 3.71, p <0.001, 95% CI 2.77-4.65). The 73% of patients with normal FF had a normal ITC. The probability of showing a lower ITC when the FF was lower than 7 was 5.5 times greater (OR = 5.5, p <0.003, 95% CI = 2.23-13.76). Those who presented a lower FF with normal ITC (n = 19) 80% had diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (15/19) and 21% dyslexia (4/19).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our results have important clinical implications because the access and time necessary for an extensive neuropsychological evaluation is not always available. The present research shows that FF of 2 minutes long with letters "P" and "M" is an effective neuropsychological screening tool in revealing deficit not only in executive functions and verbal abilities, but also in detecting decreased intellectual performance. Those patients with poor performance in this test should perform a complete neuropsychological assesment in order to clarify the diagnosis.