Cognitive functioning among individuals with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, and no cognitive impairments.
OBJECTIVE
To compare patterns of cognitive functioning in older adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and no neurological disorder (ND).


METHODS
Group comparison.


METHODS
Outpatient setting of a large urban tertiary care medical center.


METHODS
Older adults: 56 with TBI, 64 with AD, and 50 with neurological disorder.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Older adults with AD and TBI had lower scores in most areas of cognitive functioning examined than the individuals with neurological disorder. Individuals with AD had lower scores in memory, processing speed, and verbal fluency than did individuals with TBI. Specifically, individuals with AD did not retain learned information over time.


CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive impairments were present in older adults with AD and TBI. However, individuals with TBI were better able to learn and retain new information than were individuals with AD.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Sabrina
S
Breed
Amanda
A
Sacks
Teresa A
TA
Ashman
Wayne A
WA
Gordon
Karen
K
Dahlman
Lisa
L
Spielman
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014706:Verbal Learning