eprintid: 1506126 rev_number: 27 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/50/61/26 datestamp: 2016-07-30 20:54:14 lastmod: 2021-09-19 22:33:18 status_changed: 2016-11-04 14:24:34 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Huntley, JD creators_name: Hampshire, A creators_name: Bor, D creators_name: Owen, AM creators_name: Howard, RJ title: The importance of sustained attention in early Alzheimer's disease ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D79 keywords: Alzheimer's disease, attention, cognition, neuropsychology note: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Huntley, JD; Hampshire, A; Bor, D; Owen, AM; Howard, RJ; (2016) The importance of sustained attention in early Alzheimer's disease, International Journal of Geriatric Society, which has been published in final form at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gps.4537. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html#terms). abstract: INTRODUCTION: There is conflicting evidence regarding impairment of sustained attention in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examine whether sustained attention is impaired and predicts deficits in other cognitive domains in early AD. METHODS: Fifty-one patients with early AD (MMSE > 18) and 15 healthy elderly controls were recruited. The sustained attention to response task (SART) was used to assess sustained attention. A subset of 25 patients also performed tasks assessing general cognitive function (ADAS-Cog), episodic memory (Logical memory scale, Paired Associates Learning), executive function (verbal fluency, grammatical reasoning) and working memory (digit and spatial span). RESULTS: AD patients were significantly impaired on the SART compared to healthy controls (total error β = 19.75, p = 0.027). SART errors significantly correlated with MMSE score (Spearman's rho = -0.338, p = 0.015) and significantly predicted deficits in ADAS-Cog (β = 0.14, p = 0.004). DISCUSSIONS: Patients with early AD have significant deficits in sustained attention, as measured using the SART. This may impair performance on general cognitive testing, and therefore should be taken into account during clinical assessment, and everyday management of individuals with early AD. date: 2017-08 date_type: published official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/gps.4537 oa_status: green full_text_type: other language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type_text: Journal Article verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1143670 doi: 10.1002/gps.4537 lyricists_name: Howard, Robert lyricists_name: Huntley, Jonathan lyricists_id: RJMWH01 lyricists_id: JHUNT57 full_text_status: public publication: International Journal of Geriatric Society volume: 32 number: 8 pagerange: 860-867 issn: 1099-1166 citation: Huntley, JD; Hampshire, A; Bor, D; Owen, AM; Howard, RJ; (2017) The importance of sustained attention in early Alzheimer's disease. International Journal of Geriatric Society , 32 (8) pp. 860-867. 10.1002/gps.4537 <https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.4537>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1506126/1/Howard_Huntley%20et%20al%20IJGPsych.pdf