Impaired awareness of deficits in Alzheimer disease
B.R. Ott
Bok Engelsk 1996
| Utgitt | 1996
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|---|---|
| Omfang | Side 68- 76
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| Opplysninger | This study examined the relation between awareness of memory andfunctional decline and cognitive function in patients with Alzheimerdisease (AD). Twenty-six patients with early AD and 16 nondementedelderly controls were studied. Awareness of deficits was determinedby using (a) a discrepancy score between subject's and caregiver'sratings on a memory questionnaire, (b) a discrepancy score betweensubject's and caregiver's ratings on an activities-of-daily-livingscale, and (c) a clinical rating of dementia awareness for patients.Whereas self-ratings of memory and activities of daily living werenot significantly different between AD patients and controls, thesetwo measures differed significantly when AD patients' ratings werecompared with those of their caregivers. Measures of awareness ofdeficits correlated with one another and were primarily associatedwith performance on tests of executive and visuospatial functions butnot with depression. Early AD is characterized by a failure of self-monitoring. Deficits in self-monitoring have been proposed to occurafter damage to the frontal lobes and other cerebral areas. Impairedawareness of memory and functional deficits in AD is related tocognitive impairments, which may involve frontal and right hemisphereconnections.
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| Emner |
