Spanish normative studies (NEURONORMA-Plus project): norms for the Delis Kaplan-Design Fluency Test, Color Trails Test, and Dual Task

Introduction: Complex attention and non-verbal fluency tasks are used in neuropsychological assessments with the aim of exploring subdomains of executive function. The purpose of this study is to provide norms and age-, education-, and sex-adjusted data for the Delis Kaplan-Design Fluency Test (DK-DFT), Color Trails Test (CTT), and Dual Task (DT) as part of the NEURONORMA-Plus project.

Methods: The sample included 308 cognitively healthy individuals aged between 18 and 92 years. Raw scores were converted to age-adjusted scaled scores. These were further converted into education- and sex-adjusted scaled scores by applying linear regression, with 2 age groups (< 50 and ≥ 50 years).

Results: Overall, age had a negative impact on DK-DFT and CTT performance. We observed a positive effect of education on DK-DFT scores only in the older group (≥ 50 years). Moreover, younger men performed slightly better in the basic condition of this test. Education was positively associated with all CTT scores in both age groups, with the exception of the CTT-1 subtest in the younger group. Age and education did not influence DT performance, whereas sex did, with young women performing slightly better.

Conclusions: These normative data may be useful in the interpretation of neuropsychological assessments in the Spanish population.