Study on mirror writing in elderly patients with senile dementia and vascular dementia / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the mirror writing in elderly patients with senile dementia and vascular dementia. Methods Thirty-three senile dementia patients and 30 vascular dementia patients were studied. Age- and education-matched 63 healthy elder people were included in control groups. Ten items for determination of handedness, Mini Mental Status Examination(MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) and the written language of Chinese Aphasia Examination Scale(draft) were adopted to examine all patients. Hachinski Ischemic Scale was used for differentiation between senile dementia and vascular dementia. Results Seventeen (51.51%) of senile dementia patients and 23 (76.60%) of vascular dementia patients were mirror writiers. In the corresponding control groups, these numbers were found to be 2(6.06%) and 7 (23.30%) respectively. The occurrence rate of mirror writing in senile dementia group and vascular dementia group was markedly higher than in the normal controls(P