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P2–102: What executive function does the clock drawing test represent in the assessment of patients with Alzheimer's disease?
Author(s) -
Fukui Toshiya,
Yeongae Lee Eiai,
Hieda Soutaro,
Taguchi Susumu
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2006.05.940
Subject(s) - verbal fluency test , psychology , executive functions , executive dysfunction , trail making test , fluency , audiology , population , clinical psychology , cognition , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , cognitive impairment , neuropsychology , mathematics education , environmental health
depression in patients, and the Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to primary caregivers. Patients’ mean age was 76.3 years (SD 7.2) and their mean MMSE was 24.1 (SD 2.6). On the Anosognosia Rating Scale, 30% had full insight, 60% had shallow insight and 10% had no insight. Analysis of Variance demonstrated a significant effect of anosognosia rating on neuropsychiatric symptoms (p 0.02) and caregiver distress (p 0.01) (results shown in table). Post hoc bonferroni corrected t-tests showed that significant differences in NPI-Q scores were found between patients with “full insight” and “no insight”. No significant differences in depression ratings for patients or caregivers were found between the three groups as classified by Anosognosia Rating Scale. MMSE score as well as age and gender of the patients and the caregiver were not significantly related to NPI-Q scores. Conclusion: Anosognosia occurs frequently in early AD, and a subgroup of patients has no insight into their cognitive deficits. More neuropsychiatric symptoms and higher caregiver distress are found in this group compared to patients without anosognosia. When trying to identify patients (and caregivers) in early AD with special need for psychiatric treatment and social support, evaluation of anosognosia may be important.