Very Early Decline in Recognition Memory for Odors in Alzheimer's Disease
Titel:
Very Early Decline in Recognition Memory for Odors in Alzheimer's Disease
Auteur:
Murphy, Claire Nordin, Steven Jinich, Samuel
Verschenen in:
Aging, neuropsychology, and cognition
Paginering:
Jaargang 6 (1999) nr. 3 pagina's 229-240
Jaar:
1999-09
Inhoud:
When in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) a decline in detection sensitivity and recognition memory for odors begins, and whether a fast progression in dementia is related to a fast loss in odor sensitivity, was determined by studying 78 patients with probable AD, categorized as very mild, mild, or moderate in degree of dementia, and 78 controls. Taste and vision were studied for comparison. Whereas the earliest decline in odor sensitivity and visual memory was found in mild patients, a decline in odor memory was found in the very mild patients. Similar taste thresholds in the four groups suggest that the poor odor detectability in AD was not related to task demands in threshold testing. A fast progression in dementia was also found to be related to a fast loss in odor sensitivity. The findings imply that memory-based olfactory tests may contribute to early diagnosis of AD.