Verbal memory impairment in congestive heart failure.
Cognitive dysfunction, mainly memory impairment, characterizes congestive heart failure (CHF). Aim of this study was to verify whether: (1) CHF has differential effects on primary and secondary memory; (2) memory dysfunction can be diagnosed by a screening instrument. In a multicenter study we enrolled 369 patients with stable CHF who underwent a structured assessment of verbal memory mechanisms and selected cognitive functions. Performance on some verbal memory indexes (Recency, Rey's immediate and delayed recall, Learning efficiency) progressively decreased from II to IV New York Heart Association (NYHA) class. Rate of forgetting was uniformly high across NYHA classes II-IV. Verbal memory indexes were highly correlated with most nonverbal scores. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) had poor sensitivity and specificity versus primary or secondary verbal memory dysfunction. Therefore, a deficit of both primary and secondary memory is relatively common in CHF but cannot be accurately recognized by a screening neuropsychological test.
Antonelli Incalzi
R
R
Institute of Internal Medicine, Policlinico Gemelli, School of Medicine, Rome, Italy.
Trojano
L
L
Acanfora
D
D
Crisci
C
C
Tarantino
F
F
Abete
P
P
Rengo
F
F
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011939:Mental Recall; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012372:ROC Curve; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014936:Word Association Tests