imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.

2025-05-25T16:15:33Z

Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.

New page

{{Short description|Clinical cognitive test involving descending subtraction}}
'''Serial sevens''' (or, more generally, the '''descending subtraction task'''; '''DST'''), where a patient counts down from one hundred by [[7|seven]]s, is a clinical test used to test cognition; for example, to help assess [[mental status]] after possible [[head injury]], in suspected cases of [[dementia]] or to show [[sleep inertia]]. This well-known test, in active documented use since at least 1944,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jurgen Ruesch |title=Intellectual Impairment in Head Injuries |journal=The American Journal of Psychiatry | volume=100 |issue=4 |pages=480–496 |year=1944 |url=http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=142582 |doi=10.1176/ajp.100.4.480|url-access=subscription }}</ref> was adopted as part of the [[mini-mental state examination]] (MMSE)<ref name="PsychDB MMSE">{{cite web |title=Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) |website=PsychDB |date=5 June 2021 |url=https://www.psychdb.com/cognitive-testing/mmse |access-date=13 March 2025}}</ref> and the [[Montreal Cognitive Assessment]] (MoCA).<ref name="PsychDB MoCA">{{cite web |title=Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) |website=PsychDB |date=17 December 2021 |url=https://www.psychdb.com/cognitive-testing/moca |access-date=13 March 2025}}</ref> The test is also used in determining when a patient is becoming unconscious under anaesthetic, for example prior to major dental surgery.

On its own, the inability to perform 'serial sevens' is not diagnostic of any particular disorder or impairment, but is generally used as a quick and easy test of [[Attentional control|concentration]] and [[memory]] in any number of situations where clinicians suspect that these cognitive functions might be affected. Each subtraction is considered as a unit and calculations are made on the basis of the 14 possible correct subtractions, that is 100-93-86-79-72-65-58-51-44-37-30-23-16-9-2.<ref>

{{cite journal|doi=10.1001/archinte.1982.00340190148022|pmid=7092427|title=The Serial Sevens Test|journal=Archives of Internal Medicine|volume=142|issue=6|pages=1192|year=1982|last1=Manning|first1=Robert Thomas}}</ref>

Similar tests include '''serial threes''' where the counting downwards is done by threes, reciting the months of the year in reverse order, or spelling 'world' backwards.

A study involving uninjured high school athletes concluded that the serial sevens test is not appropriate when testing for [[concussion]] because it lacks [[sensitivity and specificity|specificity]]; the pass rate is too low to give any meaningful result. The ability to recite the months in reverse order was thought to be a more effective measure because the pass rate was higher for that test in uninjured athletes.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=9262887|date=Jul 1997|author1=Young, Cc |author2=Jacobs, Ba |author3=Clavette, K |author4=Mark, Dh |author5=Guse, Ce |title=Serial sevens: not the most effective test of mental status in high school athletes|volume=7|issue=3|pages=196–8|issn=1050-642X|journal=Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine|doi=10.1097/00042752-199707000-00008|s2cid=31646549 }}</ref>

The numbers of the serial sevens test are a recurring motif in Sarah Kane's play ''[[4.48 Psychosis]]''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Neuropsychology tests}}

[[Category:Cognitive impairment and dementia screening and assessment tools]]
[[Category:Cognitive tests]]
[[Category:Neuropsychological tests]]

{{psych-stub}}

Serial sevens - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.