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Brain electrical activity in patients with presenile and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type
Author(s) -
Duffy Frank H.,
Albert Marilyn S.,
McAnulty Gloria
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410160404
Subject(s) - alzheimer's disease , dementia , electroencephalography , neuropsychology , senile plaques , senile dementia , psychology , audiology , neurophysiology , degenerative disease , neuropsychological test , medicine , neuroscience , disease , central nervous system disease , cognition
Neurophysiological and behavioral data obtained from 9 patients with presenile dementia and 10 with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type were compared with similar data from 25 age‐ and sex‐equivalent controls. Compared with the healthy controls, both patient groups demonstrated increased background electroencephalographic slowing with a reduction in fast activity (synchronization). Topographic analyses of data from electroencephalographic and evoked potential studie indicate that areas of maximal group differences between the presenile patients and their controls include the right posterior temporal and, to a lesser extent, left midtemporal to anterior temporal areas, whereas the maximal differences between the senile patient group and their controls involve the midfrontal and anterior frontal lobes, bilaterally. Moreover, right‐sided numerical features derived from topographic maps proved most useful in differentiating the presenile patients and their age‐matched controls, whereas bilateral features were more useful in separating senile patients from their controls. These topographic dissimilarities between patient groups suggest that an age‐disease interaction exists between patients with presenile and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. Correlational analyses between neuropsychological test scores and neurophysiological features indicate that increased slowing and decreased fast activity were associated with poorer test performance.