A comparison of episodic memory deficits in neuropathologically-confirmed Dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease.
Little is known about possible differences in the memory deficits that occur in Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared 24 autopsy-confirmed DLB and 24 age-, education-, and MMSE-matched autopsy-confirmed AD patients on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Logical Memory subtest. The DLB and AD groups were similarly impaired on CVLT Total Learning (Trials 15) and Long Delayed Free Recall, but the DLB group demonstrated relative improvement in Savings scores and on recognition testing compared to the AD group. Likewise, the patient groups were equally impaired on Logical Memory immediate and delayed recall, but the DLB group's Saving scores were significantly better than those of the AD patients. These results indicate that while both DLB and AD patients exhibit significant memory impairment, the ability to consolidate information may be less severely impaired in DLB patients than in AD patients.
Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0948, USA. jmhamilton@ucsd.edu
Joanne M
JM
Hamilton
David P
DP
Salmon
Douglas
D
Galasko
Dean C
DC
Delis
Lawrence A
LA
Hansen
Eliezer
E
Masliah
Ronald G
RG
Thomas
Leon J
LJ
Thal
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology