Associations between the Brief Memory and Executive Test (BMET), Activities of Daily Living, and Quality of Life in Patients with Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Abstract

Objectives: In addition to neuropsychological difficulties, patients with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) can have reduced activities of daily living and a poorer quality of life compared to healthy adults. The Brief Memory and Executive Test (BMET), is a cognitive screening tool designed to be sensitive to the neuropsychological profile of patients with SVD. While the BMET is sensitive to the cognitive consequences of SVD, it is unclear how well scores on this measure relate to functional outcomes. The aims of this study are to investigate the relationship between scores on the BMET and functional outcomes (activities of daily living and quality of life) in SVD, and to compare this with other commonly used cognitive screening tools.

Methods: This study included 184 participants with SVD (mean age=63.2; SD=9.9) and 299 healthy controls (mean age=62.4; SD=13.8) who were tested using the BMET, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Stroke Specific - Quality of Life Scale (SS-QoL), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and measures of both instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and basic activities of daily living (BADL).

Results: After controlling for covariates the scores on the BMET, but not the MoCA or MMSE, were significantly related to poorer IADL and quality of life in the SVD group. In addition to the BMET scores, symptoms of depression were found to be significant associated with functional outcome.

Conclusion: These results support the clinical utility of using of the BMET, in combination with a standardized depression questionnaire, during the early assessment of patients with SVD.

Keywords: Adults; Cerebrovascular disease; Cognitive; Dementia; Neuropsychological tests; Stroke.