Effects of age and education level on the Trail Making Test in a healthy Brazilian sample.

The Trail Making Test (TMT) has been a useful tool for neuropsychological assessment.The present study analyzed the influence of age and education level on TMT performance in healthy adult Portuguese speakers.The criteria for exclusion were a history of neurological disease, psychiatric illness, substance abuse, learning disabilities, or any other difficulty that may interfere with testing.The sample (n = 318) was divided into four age groups: (i) very young (n = 92; 18-34 years old), (ii) young (n = 66; 35-49 years old), (iii) middle-age (n = 117; 50-64 years old), and (iv) elderly (n = 43; 65-81 years old).The sample was also divided into three education levels: (i) low (2-8 years), (ii) middle (9-11 years), and (iii) high (≥ 12 years).Correlations among the demographic variables and scores on Trails A and B showed that age and education level were the two variables that most affected TMT scores (p < 0.001, analysis of covariance).Post hoc analyses of age did not reveal significant differences between the middle-age and elderly groups in TMT-A performance or between middle and high education level in TMT-A or TMT-B performance.These results are consistent with previous studies and demonstrate that age and education level affect the performance of Brazilian subjects on the TMT.