No abstract available.
Dementia* ; Diagnosis*

The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975) is a quick and easy measure of cognitive functioning that has been widely used in clinical evaluation and research involving patients with dementia. The present study was conducted to examine the validity of the newly constructed Korean version of the MMSE (K-MMSE) in dementia patients. The K-MMSE was administered to 84 patients with Alzheimer's a disease, 64 patients with vascular dementia, and 23 patients with a diagnosis of pseudo-dementia. The result showed that of the cognitive components of the K-MMSE, Orientation, Attention and Calculaton, Recall, and Visual Construction are impaired in dementia patients. The sensitivities of the K-MMSE in detecting dementia were .70-83. Factor analysis indicated that the multiple cognitive components of the K-MMSE can he explained by one or two factors. The K-MMSE was also highly correlated with another brief measure of cognitive functioning, the Blessed Orientation Memory-Information(r=.78). The result, however, further suggested that the K-MMSE is relatively insensitive to detect the early stage of dementia, causing an increase in false negatives.
Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Diagnosis ; Humans

BACKGROUND: Alzhiemeranjx disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD) are common types of dementia. As a result of the development of new specific agents for AD, and because vascular dementia is a potentially preventable dementia, differentiating these diseases is of great importance. The role of EEG spectral analysis in the differential diagnosis between Alzheimer type and vascular dementia is still controversial. Since there have been few studies concerning the differential diagnosis of dementia by EEG, the present study has focused on this aspect. Usefulness of EEG in differen-tial diagnosis of dementia will be elucidated by clarifying relationship between type of dementia and spectral profile of EEG. METHODS: We analyzed the power spectra taken from 16 derivations and spectral profile was constructed by averaging twenty 2 sec epochs in three study groups (normal controls, AD and VD). Spectral profile was divided into three groups; (I) type A, showing a dominant 6.5-12 Hz peak (ii) type B, lacking a dominant peak in the 6.5-12 Hz (iii) type C, corresponding to a flat, low voltage, spectrum. To elucidate the relationship between spectral profile and other factors including diagnosis, statistical test was done. RESULTS: (1) In AD, type C profile was statistically more prevalent than in VD and type A profile was reversed. (2) In AD, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was statistically lower in type C profile. (3) Spectral profile was not associated with age, age of symptom onset, and symptom duration. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that spectral profile is a useful tool for the differential diagnosis of dementia (AD and VD) and correlated with the severity of disease in AD.
Dementia ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential* ; Electroencephalography*

Now a day the researchers still continue to determine whether genetic factors are the leading cause of Alzheimer disease (AD). Mutations of one in three genes (PSEN1, PSEN2, and APP) were identified causes of early AD. However, the percentage of patients with early AD is small. Although there wasn’t any genetic factors directly related to late-onset AD, in the last decades, genes of some risk factors leaded to this disease were determined more and more, especially genes caused vascular diseases. APOE was considered as highest risk factors for both of AD and vascular diseases. The risk factors of gene must be explained and put into the context of closed relations to the environment, nationality, geography and territory.
Dementia, Diagnosis , Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: The aim of the current study was to investigate the changes of the olfactory function in the Korean elderly population related to cognitive decline by using the CDR (Clinical Dementia Rating scale) and KVSS Test (Korean Version of Sniffin' Sticks Test). METHODS: 41 subjects between the ages of 65-85 years, were included in this study. All subjects were screened to exclude conditions affecting olfactory functions. These subjects were divided into three groups according to CDR. 23 subjects belonged to the CDR 0 group, 9 to the CDR 0.5 group and 9 to the CDR 1 group. The KVSS Test consisted of the olfactory threshold test and olfactory identification test. RESULTS: Significant differences were found among the CDR 0 group, CDR 0.5 group and CDR 1 group (p<0.001) in the olfactory identification test. Scores in the olfactory identification test was lower in the CDR 1 group than in the CDR 0.5 group and CDR 0 group. There were no significant differences between the scores of subjects in the CDR 0 group and those in the CDR 0.5 group on the olfactory identification test. Scores in the olfactory threshold test were not different in the CDR 0 group, CDR 0.5 group and CDR 1 groups (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the cognitive deficits were associated with the decrease of scores in the olfactory identification test and that the olfactory identification test may have clinical utility in the diagnosis of the dementia.
Aged ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to investigate what aspects of evaluation was ordered for diagnosis of dementia up to the present in Korea. METHODS: Article review was performed via web searching. We searched the Korean Medical Database (KMbase) for title words containing 'dementia'. Only original articles were used for the analysis. According to the published year, all articles were divided into three stage (1990-1994, 1995-1999, 2000-2003). The data was collected for what instruments were used and what clinical diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of dementia. RESULTS: 97 studies were identified through a KM base search of all Korean-language publications between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2003. Mini-Mental State Examination was not only most commonly applied screening test for dementia in all three stage, also mainly employed as a standard test for validating other screening test. The trends that the DSM clinical diagnotic criteria was soley used were changed in later stage, and then much more studies used NINCDS-ADRDA and NINDS-AIREN criteria in conjunction with DSM diagnostic criteria. Variable instruments to assess functional impairment and behavioral problem were more widely used in three stage than before. In addition, usage of the neuroimage was significantly increased in the 3rd stage. CONCLUSION: This results show increasing trend in study on dementia in Korea with the aid of systematic diagnosis of dementia including specific clinical diagnosis, screening test, cognitive function test, functional and behavioral assessment.
Dementia* ; Diagnosis* ; Korea ; Mass Screening

The symptom group of dementia is now called as behavioral and psychological symptom of dementia (BPSD). Depression is a highly prevalent concomitant of dementia. At the same time, differential diagnosis between dementia and geriatric depression is clinically important. Depressive symptoms are elevated preclinically in AD, and this elevation is not merely a byproduct of self-perceived cognitive difficulties. Thus, depressive symptoms appeared to be early manifestations, rather than predictors in case of AD. The depressive symptoms can be separated into two categories, reflecting either mood or motivation related disturbance. Mood related symptoms dominate in mild to moderate stages, and motivation related symptoms dominate in severe stages. We can find out the clinical characteristics of depressive symptoms in dementia. And, depression in dementia responds to specific psychopharmacologic or psychosocial treatments. So, we should consider use of multiple therapeutic measures in a systematic way.
Dementia ; Depression* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Motivation

Vascular dementia (VD) is a dementia syndrome associated with cerebrovascular disease. Among the several subtypes of VD, most common subtypes are multi-infarct dementia, single-infarct dementia, and subcortical vascular dementia. In patients with multi-infarct dementia, dementia occurs with a close temporal relationship to stroke episodes. Brain imaging usually shows multiple territory cortico-subcortical infarcts. Single-infarct dementia, in contrast, is caused by a single infarct in specific regions of the brain such as thalamus, caudate nucleus, capsular genu, angular gyrus, or hippocampus. In subcortical VD, primary lesion is lacunar infacts or ischemic white matter lesions that are located in subcortical regions, i.e., deep nuclei (basal ganglia and thalamus) or white matter (periventricular and deep white matter). The diagnosis of subcortical vascular dementia is challenging, since stroke episodes are often unrecognized, thus temporal relationship between onset of dementia and stroke is lacking. This article describes 1) subtypes of VD, 2) illustrative cases with vascular dementia, 3) research criteria for VD, 4) treatment of VD, and 5) a general guideline on caregiving for patients with VD, which will enable clinicians to provide better diagnosis and management of patients with VD.
Brain ; Caudate Nucleus ; Dementia ; Dementia, Multi-Infarct ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Diagnosis ; Ganglia ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Neuroimaging ; Stroke ; Thalamus

As modern society ages rapidly, the number of people with dementia is sharply increasing. Direct medical costs and indirect social costs for dementia patients are also increasing exponentially. However, the lack of social awareness about dementia results in difficulties to dementia patients and their families. So, understanding dementia is the first step to remove or reduce the stigma of dementia patients and promote the health of our community. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. The term, ‘Alzheimer's disease’ has been used for over 100 years since first used in 1910. With the remarkable growth of science and medical technologies, the techniques for diagnosis and treatment of dementia have also improved. Although the effects of the current symptomatic therapy are still limited, dramatic improvement is expected in the future through the continued research on disease modifying strategies at the earlier stage of disease. It is important to look at the past to understand the present and obtain an insight into the future. In this article, we review the etymology and history of dementia and previous modes of recognizing dementia. We also review the historical developments leading to the terminology of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Terminology as Topic

To examine the cognitive function of elderly, the study examined the performance of Korean normal elderly population whose age over 65 using neuropsychological instruments. It was predicted that the performance of the Korean population would be different from the U, S. mainly due to their difference in language, culture, and education. Korean elderly people from the Chungchung and Daejeon Metropolitan city(n=97) participated. Two age scores were developed: below 74 years and over 75 years. The effect of age, gender and education was examined, which yield significant age, gender and education effect. The score of DSF, DSB, TMTA, and TMTB are expected to be utilized for research purposes, such as basic, clinical, epidemiological studies, as well as practice purposes such as diagnosis and assessment of the progression of cognitive decline and dementia with MMSE-K.
Aged* ; Dementia ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans