Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
Identifying patients at high and low risk of cognitive decline using Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test among
Christin Andersson1, Maria Lindau, Ove Almkvist
1NEUROTEC Department, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. christin.andersson@neurotec.ki.se
Objectives:
To investigate whether application of cutoff levels in an episodic memory test (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT) is a useful method for identifying patients at high and low risk of cognitive decline and subsequent dementia.
Methods:
224 patients with memory complaints (mean age = 60.7 years, mean MMSE = 28.2) followed-up at a memory clinic over approximately 3 years were assigned retrospectively to one of three memory groups from their baseline results in RAVLT [severe (SIM), moderate (MIM) or no impairment (NIM)]. These groups were investigated regarding cognitive decline.
Results:
Patients assigned to SIM showed significant cognitive decline and progressed to dementia at a high rate, while a normal performance in RAVLT at baseline (NIM) predicted normal cognition after 3 years. Patients with MIM constituted a heterogeneous group; some patients deteriorated cognitively, while the majority remained stable or improved.
Conclusions:
The application of cutoff levels in RAVLT at baseline showed that patients with severely impaired RAVLT performance were at a high risk of cognitive decline and progression to dementia, while patients with normal RAVLT results did not show cognitive decline during 3 years. Furthermore, the initial degree of memory impairment was decisive in the cognitive prognosis 3 years later.
