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The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside
B Dubois1, A Slachevsky, I Litvan
1INSERM EPI 007 and Fédération de Neurologie (Drs. Dubois, Slachevsky, and Pillon), Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
Neurology
|December 13, 2000
Summary
The Frontal Assessment Battery is a quick bedside tool that accurately detects frontal lobe dysfunction. It shows high reliability and validity in distinguishing between healthy individuals and patients with neurological conditions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Frontal lobe dysfunction impacts cognitive and behavioral functions.
- A need exists for a brief, reliable bedside assessment tool for these deficits.
Discussion:
- The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) comprises six subtests evaluating conceptualization, mental flexibility, motor programming, interference sensitivity, inhibitory control, and environmental autonomy.
- Administration time is approximately 10 minutes.
- The battery was validated on 42 healthy subjects and 121 patients with various frontal lobe disorders.
Key Insights:
- FAB scores strongly correlate with established measures like the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
- The battery demonstrates excellent interrater reliability, internal consistency, and discriminant validity.
- Age and Mini-Mental State Examination scores did not significantly influence FAB results.
Outlook:
- The Frontal Assessment Battery offers a practical and sensitive method for bedside assessment of frontal lobe functions.
- Its ease of use and diagnostic accuracy support its clinical utility in identifying and monitoring frontal lobe dysfunction.