Age at disease onset and pattern of cognitive impairment in probable Alzheimer's disease.
Factor analysis of cognitive scores from 150 patients with Alzheimer's disease yielded two orthogonal factors: one (Factor 1) loading high on spontaneous speech, repetition, comprehension, reading, writing, digit span, and left/right discrimination; the other (Factor 2) loading high on long-term memory, orientation, object naming, and abstraction. Regression analysis, controlled for education and disease duration, showed Factor 1 scores to be lower in early-onset patients and Factor 2 scores to be lower in late-onset patients. These data corroborate results reported by previous investigators and suggest that Alzheimer's disease is age-dependent and heterogeneous in nature.
Sevush
S
S
Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida.
Leve
N
N
Brickman
A
A
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014888:Wechsler Scales