Visuo-constructional functions in patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease

Summary Background Several recently proposed criteria for assessing cognitive disorder require measuring the cognitive domain of visuo-constructional function. The aims of the present study were to develop a new test (Vienna Visuo-constructional Test—VVT) measuring visuo-constructional functions and to determine the reliability and validity of the VVT in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We further examined age and sex effects and the psychometric quality of the VVT. Methods The study included 76 healthy controls and 103 patients who were referred to the Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna for neurocognitive assessment. An administering and scoring system for the VVT was developed. Results Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was found to range from 0.82 for the healthy control group to 0.93 for the total patient group. There was no sex effect, but age had a negative effect on VVT performance. The VVT successfully differentiated healthy controls from MCI patients, AD patients, and PD patients, respectively. Conclusion The VVT shows satisfactory validity and reliability and can be administered easily in clinical practice. It constitutes a new measure that can successfully be used to identify visuo-constructional problems in patients with cognitive dysfunction.