No abstract available.
Aged* ; Humans ; Long-Term Care*

No abstract available.
Dementia*

Disturbances in memory are the most common problem in patients with an organic mental syndrome. Other patients with significant psychiatric disorder also often have memory. So it is very important in the clinical practice of psychiatry to understand the biological and neurocognitive mechanisms of memory proessing, and to develop the assessment tools with which memory function can be evaluated reliably and validly. Moreover, memory researches provide an important viewpoint from which we can understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of major neuropsychiatric illnesses. This article focuses on our understanding of memory function in clinical and neurobiological aspects. The relevant material will be presented in four pats : 1) terminologies needed in defining major stages of various types of memory processing : 2) neurochemical and neuroanatomical basis of memory processing : 3) brief bedside screening and more comprehensive neuropsychological tests for the evaluation of memory function : 4) the characteristics of memory dysfunction in several major psychiatric illnesses.
Humans ; Mass Screening ; Memory* ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Neuropsychology

The decline of cognitive functions uses to follow the increase in incidence of various organic mental disorders and systemic diseases, and administration of drugs with increasing age. The assessments of cognitive functions are needed to discriminate normal aging from other cognitive disorders and to differentiate the organic mental disorders. We have to be cautious to interpret the test results of elderly patients who are easily fatigue and frequently have sensory disturbances. There are two basic approaches to assess cognitive function of the elderly patients. One is to use standardized test batteries and another is to use several tests that are relevant to diagnostic purposes. Many assessment tools of cognitive functions have been developed and used clinically but there are a few available standardized test in Korea. It is eagerly needed to develope standardized tests that are pertinent our culture.
Aged* ; Aging ; Neurocognitive Disorders ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea

No abstract available.
Acetylcholinesterase* ; Aluminum* ; Animals ; Brain* ; Choline O-Acetyltransferase* ; Choline* ; Rats*

It has been widely known that the elderly suffer very mild cognitive impairment including memory function that cannot satisfy the criteria of dementia. Koivisti and Hannien et al reported that the prevalences of age-associated memory impairment and age-associated cognitive decline were 38.6% and 26.6%, respectively. The prevalence rate of male was more than that of female and the prevalence rate was increased in younger elderly. The risk factors of age-related cognitive decline were age and myocardiac infarction whereas education and smoking decreased the risk of age-related cognitive decline. The small portion of age-associated memory impairment progressed toward dementia but the most of them were nonprogressive. The probability of progression toward dementia could be predicted by detailed neurocognitive function test. The further epidemiologic studies will reveal the nature of age-associated memory impairment.
Aged ; Dementia ; Education ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology* ; Female ; Humans ; Infarction ; Male ; Memory* ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking

As Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people, many efforts for accurate and reliable clinical diagnoses have been made all over the world. Generally diagnostic process of Alzheimer's disease is constituted with two steps : 1) to determine whether a patient is actually demented, 2) to determine whether the dementia actually caused by Alzheimer's disease. Newly developed diagnostic criteria, such as diagnostic criteria of the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association improve their specificity to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. We need Korean specific guideline for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease compatible in Korean clinical situation.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Humans ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Older persons are at higher risk for suicide than any other age group and elderly suicide is a critical public health problem. Attempted suicide in elderly is very lethal, therefore it's management must be accompanied by prevention. Though, there are few reports about risk factors in elderly suicide, and significant differences in the data between western and eastern world. So, there should be researches about risk factors influenced by peculiar cultural and regional circumstances, and these make it possible to detect elderly suicide early by education and community efforts.
Aged* ; Education ; Humans ; Public Health ; Risk Factors ; Suicide* ; Suicide, Attempted

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to confirm the reliability and validity of the GMS-AGECAT(Geriatric Mental State-Automated Geriatric Examination for Computer Assisted Taxonomy in a Korean elderly population. METHODS: Translation committee developed Korean version GMS translating GMS-A3 after preliminary studies. Few changes from the original English version were necessary. A random sample(N= 1256 of the elderly(65+ years in Asan, community was assessed for diagnostic validity. A two-phase study was designed: Korean version of GMS-AGECAT, MMSE and GDS rated by lay interviewer and clinical assessment by psychiatrists according to DSM-IV. A consecutive hospital sample(N=28 of the elderly(65+ years admitted in Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital was assessed for reliability, concurrent & procedural validity. RESULTS: Reliability coefficients of GMS-AGECAT diagnosis were Inter-rater kappa 0.78 and test-retest kappa 0.56. Correlation coefficients for concurrent validity were 0.76 with MMSE and 0.73 with GDS. Procedural validity of psychiatrist's GMS-AGECAT diagnosis and lay-interviewers' were as follow: case/ no case distinction sensitivity 95.5%, specificity 75%; organicity distinction sensitivity 100%, specificity 83.3% and depression distinction, sensitivity 92.3%, specificity 100%. Diagnostic validity of DSM-IV diagnoses and GMS-AGECAT diagnoses were: case/ no case distinction sensitivity 92.7%, specificity 81%, dementia distinction sensitivity 77.3%, specificity 92.1% and depression distinction sensitivity 83.6%, specificity 84.1%. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the reliability and validity of the GMS-AGECAT in Korean elderly. Korean version GMS can be used in the international comparison studies.
Aged ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Classification ; Dementia ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Heart ; Humans ; Psychiatry ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Translating

OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to develop KAVLT (Korean Auditory Verbal Learning Test)and to examine its reliability and validity. The KAVLT is a modified Korean version of RAVLT (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) The KAVLT assesses immediate supraspan memory, registration, retention, retrieval, recognition, learning strategy, and interference effect. METHODS: Final version of KAVLT was developed through preliminary trials. The KAVLT was administered to 75 normal healthy adults and 30 organic brain syndrome patients. Twenty-five normal controls were retested 3 weeks after the first trial to examine the test-retest reliability. The scores of basic and combined indices of KAVLT were compared between normal controls and patients. Factor analysis was done to investigate the construct validity. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between the test-retest scores of most of the basic indices. Discriminant validity which differentiates organic brain syndrome patients from normal controls was excellent. In order to accomplish the structure analysis of the KAVLT, different sets of scores were submitted to factor analysis procedure. Factor analysis of KAVLT basic indices revealed 2 factors, 'aquisition' and 'retention'. In the factor analysis of KAVLT's basic and combined indices, 4 factors emerged: 'general learning', 'retroactive interference', 'proactive interference', and 'primacy/recency effect'. CONCLUSION: The newly developed KAVLT was found to be a reliable and valid tool for evaluating multifactorial assesment of verbal memory and learning in Korean subjects.
Adult ; Brain ; Equidae ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Learning ; Memory ; Reproducibility of Results ; Verbal Learning*