Effects of spaced retrieval training (SRT) on cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.
Among the non-pharmacological treatments of dementia, SRT is a good candidate strategy for rehabilitating the cognition of AD patients. This study investigates the efficacy of SRT on the cognition of AD patients with very mild to mild disease. We administered 24-session SRT to 13 very mild and 6 mild AD patients. To assess the change of the neuropsychological performance after SRT, we performed the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease neuropsychological battery (CERAD-K), the logical memory test (LMT), the Benton visual retention test A (BVRT-A), and the digit span test (DST). All tests were administered both before and after SRT. Retention spans were significantly increased up to 24 min after SRT in both very mild and mild AD patients (p<0.05), and this improvement was maintained for different sets of target information. Retainable words were also significantly increased after SRT in the very mild AD patients (p=0.007). However, we observed no changes in neuropsychological performance after SRT. Although we did not observe improvements in the neuropsychological tests following SRT, our results suggest that the treatment was an effective intervention for improving the memory of very mild to mild AD patients, and could potentially improve learning and retention outside the training session.
Lee
Seok Bum
SB
Department of Psychiatry, Dankook University Hospital, 16-5 Anseodong, Cheonan, Chungcheongnamdo 330-715, Republic of Korea.
Park
Chong Soon
CS
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Jeong
Ji Woon
JW
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Choe
Jin Young
JY
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Hwang
Yun Jung
YJ
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Park
Chung-A
CA
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Park
Joon Hyuk
JH
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Dong Young
DY
Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yeongeondong, Jongnogu, Seoul 110-799, Republic of Korea.
Jhoo
Jin Hyeong
JH
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kangwon National University Hosptial, 26 Kangwondaehakro, Chuncheon, Kangwondo 220-947, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Ki Woong
KW
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 300 Gumidong, Bundanggu, Seongnam, Gyeonggido 463-707, Republic of Korea; Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yeongeondong, Jongnogu, Seoul 110-799, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kwkimmd@snu.ac.kr.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D012153:Retention, Psychology