Assessing visuo-constructive functions in patients with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease with the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0)

BACKGROUND: Visuo-Constructive functions have considerable potential for the early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease. OBJECTIVES: Using the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0), we measured visuo-constructive functions in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and healthy controls to determine whether VVT performance can be used to distinguish these groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of 671 participants was analyzed comparing scores across diagnostic groups and exploring associations with relevant clinical variables. Predictive validity was assessed using Receiver Operator Characteristic curves and multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We found significant differences between AD and the other groups. Identification of cases suffering from visuo-constructive impairment was possible using VVT scores, but these did not permit classification into diagnostic subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, VVT scores are useful indicators for visuo-constructive impairment but face challenges when attempting to discriminate between several diagnostic groups.