Premium
Olfactory dysfunction in dementia of Alzheimer's type and vascular dementia
Author(s) -
MOTOMURA Naoyasu,
TOMOTA Yoji
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
psychogeriatrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.647
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1479-8301
pISSN - 1346-3500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1479-8301.2006.00119.x
Subject(s) - dementia , vascular dementia , olfactory system , audiology , alzheimer's disease , medicine , psychology , olfaction , psychiatry , neuroscience , disease
Background: Olfactory function in vascular dementia has not been extensively investigated to date. We studied olfactory function in vascular dementia (VD) and dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT). Methods: We studied olfactory functioning in 12 patients suffering from dementia of Alzheimer's type, 11 patients with vascular dementia and 30 normal subjects. For these subjects we examined a 12‐item version of the Pennsylvania smell identification test and mini‐mental state examinations. These three groups were matched for age, sex and educational level. Results: Although the dementia scores were comparable in the DAT and VD groups, the smell identifications were low in DAT patients compared with VD patients and normal control subjects. Conclusions: These results suggest that the smell identification test may be useful in differential diagnosis between DAT and VD patients