Performance of Spanish-speaking community-dwelling elders in the United States on the Uniform Data Set

Abstract

Background: Spanish is the second-most common language spoken in the United States, and Spanish speakers represent one third of the aging population. The National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center's Uniform Data Set implemented a Spanish neuropsychological battery. Previous work described the neuropsychological performance for English speakers. Here we describe performance on the Spanish version.

Methods: Data from 276 Spanish speakers with normal cognition were summarized, with descriptive tables of performance on individual cognitive tests. Regression techniques were used to evaluate the effect of demographics on cognitive performance.

Results: Spanish speakers were younger (70.0 vs 74.0 years) and less educated (10.7 vs 15.7 years) with more females (76% vs 63% female) than the previously described English speakers. Higher education and lower age were associated with better performance.

Conclusion: This national cohort of well-characterized Spanish-speaking elders provides descriptive data on cognitive performance, an important tool for clinical and research efforts.

Keywords: Alzheimer's; Elderly; Neuropsychological test; Normative performance; Spanish speakers.