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The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside
Dubois B, Slachevsky A, Litvan I, Pillon B.. Neurology, 2000-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objective To devise a short bedside cognitive and behavioral battery to assess frontal lobe functions. Methods The designed battery consists of six subtests exploring the following: conceptualization, mental flexibility, motor programming, sensitivity to interference, inhibitory control, and environmental autonomy. It takes approximately 10 minutes to administer. The authors studied 42 normal subjects and 121 patients with various degrees of frontal lobe dysfunction (PD, n = 24; multiple system atrophy, n = 6; corticobasal degeneration, n = 21; progressive supranuclear palsy, n = 47; frontotemporal dementia, n = 23). Results The Frontal Assessment Battery scores correlated with the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale scores (rho = 0.82, p Conclusion The Frontal Assessment Battery is easy to administer at bedside and is sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction.
Key findings
- Results The Frontal Assessment Battery scores correlated with the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale scores (rho = 0.82, p Conclusion The Frontal Assessment Battery is easy to administer at bedside and is sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction.
Why it matters
This paper introduced the Frontal Assessment Battery, a roughly 10-minute bedside test with six parts covering abilities such as mental flexibility, inhibitory control and sensitivity to interference. It was tried in 42 healthy people and 121 patients with Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy or frontotemporal dementia, and scores tracked closely with an established dementia rating scale (rho = 0.82). No one in the study had Alzheimer's disease, so this paper alone does not show how well the test works in Alzheimer's.
Study details
- Participants24
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 60/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2000 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 24 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 3,926 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 140.2 citations a year over 28 year(s) since 2000 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 4 / 6 | Cited by 47 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 575 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author B. Pillon: h-index 62 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | Inserm: institution h-index 1,988 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 11113214) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 60 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Dubois, B., Slachevsky, A., Litvan, I., & Pillon, B. (2000). The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.55.11.1621
Vancouver
Dubois B, Slachevsky A, Litvan I, Pillon B. The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside. Neurology. 2000. doi:10.1212/wnl.55.11.1621. PMID: 11113214.
BibTeX
@article{dubois2000-11113214,
author = {Dubois, B. and Slachevsky, A. and Litvan, I. and Pillon, B.},
title = {{The FAB: a Frontal Assessment Battery at bedside}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2000},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.55.11.1621},
pmid = {11113214},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.55.11.1621}
}
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