EXIT25 – Executive interview applied to a cognitively healthy elderly population with heterogeneous educational background

Education interferes with the performance in most cognitive tests, including executive function assessment. Objective To investigate the effects of education on the performance of healthy elderly on the Brazilian version of the Executive Interview (EXIT25). Methods The EXIT25 was administered to a sample of 83 healthy elderly. The subjects were also submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a delayed recall test, clock drawing and category fluency (animals/min) tests in order to rule out cognitive impairment. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was employed to exclude clinically-relevant depressive symptoms. The total sample was divided into three groups according to educational level: G1 (1-4 years), G2 (5-8 years) and G3 (>8 years). Results The mean values for age, educational level, MMSE and EXIT25 scores of all subjects were 72.2, 7.5, 27.6 and 6.9, respectively. The scores on the EXIT25 for each group were: G1=8.3, G2=5.9 and G3=5.8. There was a statistical difference between the performance of G1 and the other two groups on the EXIT25. Conclusions The Brazilian version of the EXIT25 proved straightforward to administer. The performance of this sample of healthy elderly on the test was significantly influenced by educational level.