282-305

Impairment of memory and non-memory functions in mild cognitive impairment

• Οικονόμου, Αλεξάνδρα

The amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a diagnostic category that is considered to be the first stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is characterized by selective memory impairment, in the context of normal general cognitive functioning and activities of daily living. Memory measures comprise the most sensitive measures in the early detection of AD; however, they are also sensitive to age and education. We examined the performance of patients with MCI, patients with mild AD and normal elderly controls on three indexes of Wechsler Memory Scale-III: Working Memory, Delayed Memory and the difference between the two. Although all three indexes were sensitive to the presence of MCI and mild AD, only the difference index was sensitive to diagnostic category without being affected by age and education. We also examined the performance of patients with MCI, patients with mild AD and normal elderly controls on non-memory tests. Multivariate analyses of variance with age, education and sex as covariates showed that fluid intelligence, working memory and motor-executive tests revealed the largest differences between the patients with MCI and the normal elderly controls. The motor-executive tests were unaffected by age and education. We conclude that certain measures are selectively sensitive to MCI without showing an effect of education, and that dysfunctions in fluid intelligence and executive functions also characterize the early stage of AD.

• Basic Medicine
• Psychology

• Neuroanthropology
• Memory

alzheimer’s disease, cognitive functions, mild cognitive impairment, motor-executive functions

Issues in neuropsychology