J. R. HALL ET AL.
suggesting that both the control and the diagnostic group with
males scoring higher than females. Due to the relatively small
body of literature that have examined the current topic, it re-
mains unclear why males perform better than females on the
BTN. It can be speculated that, first and most simply, males
start a higher baseline as observed in cognitively intact indivi-
duals in the present sample. The present study did not demon-
strate educational differences as reported in several other stu-
dies (Albert et al., 1988; Fastenau, Denburg, & Mauer, 1998;
LaBarge, Edwards, & Knesevich, 1986; Nicholas, Obler, Albert,
& Goodglass, 1985). Other studies have suggested that educa-
tion is an important variable (Borod, Goodglass, & Kaplan,
1980; Hawkins, Sledge, Orleans et al., 1993; Henderson, Frank,
& Pigatt et al., 1998; Kent & Luszcz, 2002; Welch et al., 1996;
Zec et al., 2007). Despite not finding significant effects of edu-
cation, our study was consistent with previous studies (Albert et
al., 1988; Henderson et al., 1998; VanGorp et al., 1986) sup-
porting the role of IQ in BNT performance. The absence of a
significant education effect in our study may be due to the re-
stricted range of education in both controls and AD groups.
The effects of the presence hypertension and hyperlipidemia
were not significantly associated with performance on BNT. It
has been hypothesized that confrontational naming may be
impacted by subcortical white-matter changes effected by vas-
cular risks producing inefficient processing of visual stimuli
(Prins et al., 2005). The current findings suggest that co-morbid
vascular risks generally do not impact performance on the BNT.
However, additional research is warranted in this area because
it remains unclear whether gender differences will be detected
in patients with dementia of vascular etiologies at various
stages of decline.
There are a number of limitations that may effect generalize-
bility of the findings including sample size and the cross-sec-
tional nature of the study. The sample was also relatively highly
educated and predominately urban and Caucasian. Despite
these limitations, the overall findings demonstrate the impor-
tance of accounting for gender differences and advocates for
the use of gender as a factor when evaluating performance on
the BNT. Among the factors that impact performance, includ-
ing IQ, level of formal education, age, vascular health status
and cognitive status, the present data suggests that gender is the
most robust variable associated with performance on the BNT.
Prospective and longitudinal designs may contribute to under-
stand of progression and changes in confrontation naming ca-
pacity among elderly men and women.
Acknowledgements
This study was made possible by the Texas Alzheime r’s Re-
search Consortium (TARC) funded by the state of Texas
through the Texas Council on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related
Disorders.
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