# COMPONENTS OF FRONTAL ASSESSMENT BATTERY AND CLINICAL FEATURES IN PATIENTS WITH STROKE

## TL;DR

This study found that the Frontal Assessment Battery can be divided into two components, identifying a group of stroke patients with severe executive dysfunction.

## Contribution

The study identifies two distinct components of the Frontal Assessment Battery and links subscale impairments to specific patient groups.

## Key findings

- The Frontal Assessment Battery has two components: cognitive control and behavioral control.
- Cluster 2 patients had significantly lower scores in subscales 4 and 6 and overall executive function scores.
- Impairment in subscales 4 and 6 identifies a specific group of stroke patients with severe executive dysfunction.

## Abstract

First, to investigate whether the 6 aspects of executive functions assessed by the Frontal Assessment Battery have different components and, if so, to extract those components using principal component analysis. Second, to identify patient groups based on their characteristics using cluster analysis.

A cross-sectional study.

Seventy-eight patients with stroke.

The Frontal Assessment Battery, Mini-Mental State Examination, Trail Making Test, and Stroop Color Word Test were performed within 5 days.

Based on principal component analysis, the Frontal Assessment Battery was classified into cognitive control (subscales 1–3, 5) and behavioural control (subscales 4 and 6). Two clusters that reflect these components (cluster 1, n = 68; cluster 2, n = 10) were identified. The between-group comparison showed that compared with cluster 1, cluster 2 had lower scores on Frontal Assessment Battery subscales 4 and 6, the Frontal Assessment Battery total scores, and other executive functions scores. The Mini-Mental State Examination scores had no significant differences.

The Frontal Assessment Battery can be classified into 2 components, and the impairment of Frontal Assessment Battery subscales 4 and 6 identified a specific group of patients with stroke with severe executive dysfunction.

The Frontal Assessment Battery evaluates executive functions using 6 subscales. This study investigated whether the 6 subscales of FAB assessed 6 components of executive functions in patients with stroke. A total of 78 stroke patients participated in this observational study. As a result, it was divided into 2 components (group 1, n = 68; group 2, n = 10). The between-group comparison showed that compared with group 1, group 2 had lower scores on Frontal Assessment Battery subscales 4 and 6, Frontal Assessment Battery total scores, and other executive functions scores. The Frontal Assessment Battery was classified into intelligent motor programming type (items 1–3, 5), and behaviour and environmental type (items 4 and 6). The Frontal Assessment Battery can be classified into 2 components, and the impairment of Frontal Assessment Battery subscales 4 and 6 identified a specific group of patients with stroke with severe executive dysfunction.