Neuropsychological differentiation of late-onset schizophrenia and dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
Late-onset schizophrenia and dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) often present with some pathological and behavioral commonalities. Specifically, both illnesses may involve varying degrees of delusional manifestation, apathy, lateral/third-ventricular enlargement, reduced frontal lobe activity, and hippocampal atrophy. Moreover, patients with either disease have shown comparable cognitive impairment on standardized neuropsychological tests. As such, a differential diagnosis of the 2 disorders on the basis of such testing can prove to be difficult. This study evaluated the neuropsychological test results of 32 patients with late-onset schizophrenia and 32 patients with DAT to distinguish the tests that best differentiate the 2 disorders. Results indicate that the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Similarities subtest and the California Verbal Learning Test (both short- and long-delay free recall) correspond to sensitive diagnostic neuropsychological measures. This investigation was preliminary in nature, and should aid in the development of a definitive differential profile.
Zakzanis
Konstantine K
KK
Division of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. zakzanis@utsc.utoronto.ca
Andrikopoulos
Jim
J
Young
Donald A
DA
Campbell
Zachariah
Z
Sethian
Taline
T
D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis