title: Colour vision deficiencies in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  visual disorders are among the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. It is, however, still controversial as to whether Alzheimer's disease impairs colour vision. In this study, colour vision of Alzheimer's disease patients was tested using the Ishihara test and the PV-16 choice test. The latter test, primarily designed for children, was chosen in order to avoid problems due to cognitive decline.
  
  
  METHODS
  26 patients with mild to severe Alzheimer's disease (M:F=5:21; mean age: 80+/-9 years, range: 53-95 years) and 25 controls (M:F=5:20; mean age 80+/-10 years, range: 56-100 years) were rated after undergoing complete neuro-ophthalmologic examination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the Alzheimer's disease patients made significantly more unspecific errors in the Ishihara test (P=0.02) and in the PV-16 choice test (P=0.0008) than the controls. No relation between test performance and severity of Alzheimer's disease was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alzheimer's disease patients have an unspecific colour vision deficiency independent of the severity of the disease.
authors.affiliation: University Eye Clinic, Mittlere Strasse 91, CH-4012 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pache
authors.forename: Claudia H W
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.forename: Paola Fontana
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Gasio
authors.forename: Egemen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Savaskan
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flammer
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wirz-Justice
authors.forename: Hedwig J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kaiser
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003119:Color Perception Tests; D003117:Color Vision Defects / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged