A normative study of the Trail Making Test in Korean elders

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of age, education and gender on the performance of the Trail Making Test (TMT) and provide normative information in Korean elders.

Methods: The TMT was administered to 997 community-dwelling volunteers aged 60-90. People with serious neurological, medical and psychiatric disorders, including dementia, were excluded.

Results: Education and age had significant effects on both parts of the TMT. Gender also had an effect on part A of the TMT (Trail A). Based on these results, the norms of Trail A stratified by age (four overlapping tables), education (four strata) and gender, and the norms of part B of TMT (Trail B) stratified by age (four overlapping tables) and education (three strata).

Conclusions: Age and educational level had a considerable influence on both Trail A and B. Our normative information on the Trail A will be useful in the elders with poor educational attainment and can be utilized for cross-cultural comparison of the Trail A performance. The fact that a large number of elders fail to complete Trail B indicates a limited applicability of Trail B in elderly population, particularly with poor educational background.