Confrontation naming in Alzheimer's patients: relation to disease severity.
Reports of Alzheimer's disease patients in whom naming performance is disproportionate to other cognitive performances raise questions about the stage model, or dementia-severity level, for predicting naming performance. Thus, dementia severity as defined by Global Deterioration Scale ratings, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and combinations of them was evaluated as a predictor of naming performance in 102 Alzheimer's patients and was found to account for approximately 1/3 of performance variability. Additional contributions from age at onset, duration, family history, and gender were negligible. Therefore, naming ability can be argued to have a subcomponent that is not subsumed by overall cognitive ability.
Bayles
K A
KA
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
Trosset
M W
MW
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000849:Anomia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance