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Original Article
Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders 2016: 15: 2: 37-42

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The Neuropsychological Characteristics in Early Stage of Alzheimer’s Patients with Depression
YoungSoon Yang,1 Yong Tae Kwak2
1Department of Neurology, Seoul Veterans Hospital, Seoul, Korea 2Department of Neurology, Hyoja Geriatric Hospital, Yongin, Korea
The Neuropsychological Characteristics in Early Stage of Alzheimer’s Patients with Depression
YoungSoon Yang,1 Yong Tae Kwak2
1Department of Neurology, Seoul Veterans Hospital, Seoul, Korea 2Department of Neurology, Hyoja Geriatric Hospital, Yongin, Korea
Background and Purpose Although depression is a common psychiatric symptom in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there has not been a lot of research on neuropsychological characteristics of this symptom. To determine the characteristic neuropsychological deficit in patients with depression compared to patients without depression, this study compared each neuropsychological test between AD patients with depression and without depression.
Methods Psychotropic-naïve (drug-naïve) early stage [Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR)=0.5 or CDR=1] probable AD patients with depression (n=77) and without depression (n=179) were assessed with the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, which includes measures of memory, intelligence, and executive functioning.
Results AD patients with depression had lower scores on the digit forward, digit backward, calculation, and Color Word Stroop Test tests compared to AD patients without depression.
Conclusions Our study showed that AD patients with depression have disproportionate cognitive deficit, suggesting frontal (especially in the left dorsolateral), left hemisphere and left parietal dysfunction. Considering the neuropsychological differences between AD patients with depression and without depression, depression may have specific anatomic substrates.
Key Words: Alzheimer’s disease, depression, neuropsychological characteristics.
대한치매학회지 (Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders)