RESUMEN
Reading, writing and oral spelling were evaluated in 30 normal elderly individuals and 28 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Significant differences between control and AD groups were found in all tasks. Oral spelling was the most impaired function in AD and the only one which differentiated mild and moderate dementia cases. This task is very sensitive to the disease's effects on working memory and may be included in batteries aimed at staging AD.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer/diagnóstico , Recuerdo Mental , Anciano , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/psicología , Brasil , Estudios de Casos y Controles , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Lectura , EscrituraRESUMEN
The authors report the incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. In 1997, 1656 individuals aged 65 years or more, the majority being of very low educational level, were screened at their homes in Catanduva, Brazil, and dementia was diagnosed in 118 cases. The remaining 1538 individuals were rescreened 3.25 years later applying a health questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (PFAQ). According to PFAQ and MMSE scores, selected subjects were submitted to clinical, neurologic, and cognitive evaluations. The subjects diagnosed with dementia underwent laboratory tests and brain computed tomography. A total of 1119 individuals were rescreened and 50 incident cases of dementia (28 with Alzheimer disease [AD]) were identified. The incidence rate of dementia was 13.8 and of AD was 7.7 per 1000 person-years for individuals aged 65 years or older. The incidence rates of dementia almost doubled with every 5 years of age. There was no difference according to gender, but women had a higher incidence of dementia, predominantly AD, in very old age. There was a trend for higher incidence of dementia in illiterates (p = 0.07), but multivariate analysis disclosed significant association only between age and higher incidence of dementia. The incidence rates of dementia in this Brazilian community are comparable to those reported in Western and Asian studies.
Asunto(s)
Demencia/epidemiología , Características de la Residencia/estadística & datos numéricos , Distribución por Edad , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Envejecimiento , Brasil/epidemiología , Demencia/diagnóstico , Escolaridad , Femenino , Humanos , Incidencia , Modelos Logísticos , Masculino , Tamizaje Masivo , Distribución por SexoRESUMEN
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is an intriguing syndrome, showing some peculiar aspects that differentiate it from classical aphasic pictures caused by focal cerebral lesions or dementia. The slow and progressive deterioration of language occurring in these cases provides an interesting model to better understand the mechanisms involved in the linguistic process. We describe clinical and neuroimaging aspects found in 16 cases of PPA. Our patients underwent language and neuropsychological evaluation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT). We observed a clear distinction in oral expression patterns; patients were classified as fluent and nonfluent. Anomia was the earliest and most evident symptom in both groups. Neuroimaging pointed to SPECT as a valuable instrument in guiding the differential diagnosis, as well as in making useful clinical and anatomical correlations. This report and a comparison to literature are an attempt to contribute to a better understanding of PPA.
