Subjective Versus Objective Assessment of Cognitive Functioning in Primary Care

Article Figures & Data

Download figure
Open in new tab
Figure 1.
Test sensitivity to subjective concerns in unimpaired participants (MoCA ≥ 26). Abbreviations: BP, balloon popping (assessing motor speed); EOS, even-odd switching (assessing cognitive control/flexibility in set shifting); MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; NS, number sequencing (assessing processing speed).
Download figure
Open in new tab
Figure 2.
Test sensitivity to healthy aging (MoCA ≥ 26). Abbreviations: EOS, even-odd switching (assessing cognitive control/flexibility in set shifting); MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

Table 1.

Participant Demographics

Table 2.

Sample Classification Based on Objective and Subjective Cognitive Measures

Objective Measures	Subjective Measure
Objective Measures	Low	High	Total
MoCA clinical cutoff score
Unimpaired (≥ 26)	79	22	101
Impaired (< 26)	17	3	20
Total	96	25	121
Computerized tests (k-means clustering)
Unimpaired	81	16	97
Impaired	15	9	24
Total	96	25	121

Table 3.

Yuen Comparisons of Cognitive Tests across Subjective Levels of Concern and Age Groups

Groups Compared	Test	n1, n2	tmean1	tmean2	SE	Yuen	df	P Value	E.size
High versus low levels of subjective memory concern	BP	22,79	24.71	21.90	2.13	1.31	17.95	0.20	0.12
	NS	22,79	45.22	37.95	5.49	1.32	14.03	0.20	0.12
	EOS	22,79	107.97	72.73	10.34	3.40	14.83	0.0003***	0.32
	MoCA	22,79	27.64	28.1	0.45	1.18	16.65	0.25	0.11
Age, based on < 75, ≥ 75 split	EOS	32,69	100.04	71.17	9.4	3.06	23.04	0.005***	0.29
Age, based on < 75, ≥ 75 split	MoCA	32,69	28.00	28.11	0.37	0.30	29.59	0.76	0.02

BP, balloon popping; EOS, even-odd sequencing; E.size, effect size; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; NS, number sequencing; tmean, trimmed mean; Yuen, test statistic, SE, standard error; df, degrees of freedom.