Alcohol, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease: Comparison of neuropsychological profiles

Citation
J. Saxton et al., Alcohol, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease: Comparison of neuropsychological profiles, J GER PSY N, 13(3), 2000, pp. 141-149
Citations number
44
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Clinical Psycology & Psychiatry
Journal title
JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY AND NEUROLOGY
ISSN journal
0891-9887 → ACNP
Volume
13
Issue
3
Year of publication
2000
Pages
141 - 149
Database
ISI
SICI code
0891-9887(200023)13:3<141:ADAADC>2.0.ZU;2-B
Abstract
Thirty-nine detoxified elderly alcoholics (mean age = 65.85) completed a co mprehensive assessment designed to identify individuals meeting DSM-TV crit eria for alcohol-related dementia. Ten subjects meeting criteria (mean age = 69.8; mean Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] = 25.1) were compared to the 29 nondemented alcoholics (mean age = 64.5; mean MMSE = 27.8), 9 patien ts with Alzheimer's disease (mean age = 73.4; mean MMSE = 22.3), and 15 con trol subjects (mean age = 70.8; mean MMSE = 28). Comparison of neuropsychol ogical test scores revealed several statistically significant differences. Furthermore, the overall pattern of test performance between the two dement ed groups was different. Alzheimer's patients were more impaired on confron tation naming, recognition memory, animal fluency, and orientation. Alcohol dementia subjects were more impaired than controls on initial letter fluen cy, fine motor control, and free recall. However, alcohol dementia subjects did not differ from controls on tests of verbal recognition memory. This s tudy suggests that it is possible to clinically differentiate the cognitive deficits of alcohol-related dementia from typical Alzheimer's disease. How ever, the results are preliminary and are based on small sample sizes so sh ould be interpreted with caution.