Semantic Verbal Fluency: Normative Data in Older Spanish Adults From NEDICES Population-Based Cohort

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to provide the normative data stratified by age, sex and educational attainment for two semantic categories (animal and fruits) in older Spanish adults. METHOD: A representative sample of 2,744 non-demented older individuals with different socioeconomic background was selected from the Neurological Disorders in Central Spain (NEDICES), a population-based study. Normative data are presented in percentile ranks and divided into four age-tables with different midpoints, using the overlapping interval procedure. RESULTS: Correlation analyses showed that age, education and sex influence significantly the scores in both semantic tasks. Normative data presented here covered two urban (Margaritas & Lista) and one rural areas (Arévalo). CONCLUSION: These norms may provide useful data for screening cognitive impairment more accurately in Spanish older adults.