Neuropsychological deficits in Posterior Cortical Atrophy and typical Alzheimer's disease: A meta-analytic review.

AIMS: To identify cognitive tests that best differentiate between Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) and typical Alzheimer's Disease (tAD), as well as PCA and healthy control (HC) participants. METHOD: Medline, PsycInfo and Web of Science were systematically searched using terms related to PCA, tAD, and cognitive testing. Seventeen studies were identified, including 441 PCA, 391 tAD, and 284 HC participants. Standardised effect sizes of mean scores were calculated to measure performance differences on cognitive tests for PCA versus tAD and PCA versus HC groups. Meta-analyses used a random effects model. RESULTS: The most discriminating cognitive tests for PCA and tAD presentations were measures of visuospatial function and verbal memory. Large, significant effect sizes were produced for all measures of visuospatial function, most notably for Rey-Osterrieth Copy (Hedges' g = -2.79), VOSP Fragmented letters (Hedges' g = -1.73), VOSP Dot Counting (Hedges' g = -1.74), and VOSP Cube Analysis (Hedges' g = -1.98). For measures of verbal memory, the RAVLT delay and Digit Span Backwards produced significant medium effects (Hedges' g = .62 and -.56, respectively). CONCLUSION: Establishing a common framework for testing individuals with PCA has important implications for diagnosis and treatment, and forms a practical objective for future research. Findings from this meta-analysis suggest that measures of visuospatial function and verbal memory would form an important part of this framework.

Social communication deficits: Specific associations with Social Anxiety Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Social communication deficits are prevalent amongst children with anxiety disorders; however whether they are over-represented specifically among children with Social Anxiety Disorder has not been examined. This study set out to examine social communication deficits among children with Social Anxiety Disorder in comparison to children with other forms of anxiety disorder. METHODS: Parents of 404 children with a diagnosed anxiety disorder completed the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ; Rutter, M., Bailey, A., Lord, C., 2003. The Social Communication Questionnaire - Manual. Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, CA). Children with a diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder (n=262) and anxious children without Social Anxiety Disorder (n=142) were compared on SCQ total and subscale scores and the frequency of participants scoring above clinical cut-offs. RESULTS: Children with Social Anxiety Disorder scored significantly higher than anxious children without Social Anxiety Disorder on the SCQ total (t(352)=4.85, p<.001, d=.55, r=.27), Reciprocal Social Interaction (t(351)=4.73, p<.001, d=.55, r=.27), communication (t(344)=3.62, p<.001, d=.43, r=.21) and repetitive, restrictive and stereotyped behaviors subscales (t(353)=3.15, p=.002, d=.37, r=.18). Furthermore, children with Social Anxiety Disorder were three times more likely to score above clinical cut-offs. LIMITATIONS: The participants were a relatively affluent group of predominantly non-minority status. The social communication difficulties measure relied on parental report which could be influenced by extraneous factors. CONCLUSIONS: Treatments for Social Anxiety Disorder may benefit from a specific focus on developing social communication skills. Future research using objective assessments of underlying social communication skills is required.