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. 2022 Jan-Mar;36(1):44-51.
doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000482.

Utility of the Repeat and Point Test for Subtyping Patients With Primary Progressive Aphasia

Mustafa Seckin  1   2 , Ingrid Ricard  3 , Theresa Raiser  1 , Nari Heitkamp  1 , Anne Ebert  4 , Catharina Prix  1 , Johannes Levin  1   5   6 , Janine Diehl-Schmid  7 , Lina Riedl  7 , Carola Roßmeier  7 , Nora Hoen  7 , Matthias L Schroeter  8 , Anke Marschhauser  8 , Hellmuth Obrig  8 , Thomas Benke  9 , Johannes Kornhuber  10 , Klaus Fliessbach  11 , Anja Schneider  11 , Jens Wiltfang  12 , Holger Jahn  13 , Klaus Fassbender  14 , Johannes Prudlo  15 , Martin Lauer  16 , Thomas Duning  17 , Carlo Wilke  18   19 , Matthis Synofzik  18   19 , Sarah Anderl-Straub  20 , Elisa Semler  20 , Jolina Lombardi  20 , Bernard Landwehrmeyer  20 , Albert Ludolph  20   21 , Markus Otto  20 , Adrian Danek  1 ; German FTLD consortium
Affiliations

Utility of the Repeat and Point Test for Subtyping Patients With Primary Progressive Aphasia

Mustafa Seckin et al. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2022 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) may present with three distinct clinical sybtypes: semantic variant PPA (svPPA), nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA (nfvPPA), and logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA).

Objective: The aim was to examine the utility of the German version of the Repeat and Point (R&P) Test for subtyping patients with PPA.

Method: During the R&P Test, the examiner reads out aloud a noun and the participants are asked to repeat the word and subsequently point to the corresponding picture. Data from 204 patients (68 svPPA, 85 nfvPPA, and 51 lvPPA) and 33 healthy controls were analyzed.

Results: Controls completed both tasks with >90% accuracy. Patients with svPPA had high scores in repetition (mean=9.2±1.32) but low scores in pointing (mean=6±2.52). In contrast, patients with nfvPPA and lvPPA performed comparably in both tasks with lower scores in repetition (mean=7.4±2.7 for nfvPPA and 8.2±2.34 for lvPPA) but higher scores in pointing (mean=8.9±1.41 for nfvPPA and 8.6±1.62 for lvPPA). The R&P Test had high accuracy discriminating svPPA from nfvPPA (83% accuracy) and lvPPA (79% accuracy). However, there was low accuracy discriminating nfvPPA from lvPPA (<60%).

Conclusion: The R&P Test helps to differentiate svPPA from 2 nonsemantic variants (nfvPPA and lvPPA). However, additional tests are required for the differentiation of nfvPPA and lvPPA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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