Norms for neuropsychological tests in cognitively healthy French oldest old adults.

OBJECTIVE: Normal aging often leads to cognitive decline, and oldest old people, over 80 years old, have a 15% risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, it is important to have appropriate tools to assess cognitive function in old age. The study aimed to provide new norms for neuropsychological tests used to evaluate the cognitive abilities in people aged 80 years and older in France, focusing on the impact of education and gender differences. METHOD: 107 healthy participants with an average age of 85.2 years, with no neurological history or major cognitive deficits were included. A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment was performed, covering several cognitive functions such as memory, visuospatial abilities, executive functions, attention, processing speed, and praxis. RESULTS: Individuals with lower levels of education performed poorly on some tests and took longer to complete. Gender differences were observed, with women outperforming men in verbal episodic memory, while men showed better performance in visuoconstructive tasks. The participants showed lower performance in verbal episodic memory compared to norms established in previous French studies. In relation to executive functions, participants were slower to perform complex tasks than participants in previous studies. CONCLUSION: This study provides cognitive norms specifically adapted to the oldest old population, which differ from established norms for younger aging adults. It highlights the importance of including these norms in future clinical and scientific investigations. The findings underscore the importance of education on cognitive abilities and emphasize the need to consider gender differences when assessing cognitive functions in aging populations.

[Episodic memory and Alzheimer's disease: evolution of theories and clinical assessment tools]. / Mémoire épisodique et maladie d'Alzheimer : évolution des théories et des outils d'évaluation clinique.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by an impairment of episodic memory in the early stages of the disease. Neuropsychological evaluation is performed for diagnostic purposes and to personalize follow-up. However, although many tests have been developed over the last few decades, not all of them seem to be able to meet this dual challenge. Through a review of the evolution of the concept of episodic memory and of knowledge about the disease, we discuss how neuropsychological tools have adapted. We question the interests and limits of existing tools for patients with Alzheimer's disease. At the end of this review, we suggest the criteria to be taken into account in order to propose a more integrative evaluation, able to describe the difficulties encountered as close as possible to the lived experience.