Evaluation of Simple Screening for Attention Functions

We hypothesized that a combination of multiple tasks consisting of suppression of blinking and sustaining maximum muscle force in pinching serves as a simple screening test for declines in attention functions and investigated the relationships of suppression of blinking, the number of blinks during measurement of pinch strength, and attention functions. The subjects were 27 young individuals (10 males and 17 females with a mean age of 31.9±13.8 years) and 12 elderly individuals (2 males and 10 females with a mean age of 73.3±5.6 years). Part A and Part B of a Japanese version of the Trail Making Test (TMT) were used to evaluate attention functions. The subjects were instructed before the measurement of pinch strength to stop blinking for 5 seconds, and the number of blinks was counted. Pinch strength was measured for 5 seconds, and its changes were recorded. No instructions were given in the first measurement of pinch strength, but the second measurement was performed after the instruction of “Do not blink” (with restriction of blinking). TMT-Part A with restriction of blinking took more time in the group that blinked than in the group that did not blink (41.1±16.4 vs. 25.6±8.7, p<0.01). The subjects who required more time to execute TMT-Part A tended to be more likely to blink even under restriction. Examination of the presence or absence of blinking under restriction before the measurement of pinch strength is considered to be potentially useful as a simple screening test for attention functions.