Neuropsychological assessment of chinese elderly in the Shanghai dementia survey

Abstract

As a preliminary part of the Shanghai Dementia Survey, the performance of 61 uneducated and 16 educated clinically demented subjects was compared to that of 67 uneducated and 46 educated nondemented subjects on a brief battery of neuropsychological tests designed to reveal cognitive dysfunction in elderly Chinese individuals. As a group, demented subjects performed worse than nondemented subjects on tests of memory, language, attention, and visuospatial and constructional ability. However, the performances of both demented and nondemented subjects were influenced by educational and cultural factors. Furthermore, the tests varied in their effectiveness for identifying cognitive dysfunction in individual subjects, and the diagnostic utility of most tests was influenced by the subject's educational status. The results suggest that translated and adapted neuropsychological tests of various cognitive functions may be useful for evaluating dementia in an elderly Chinese population, particularly when education level is taken into account. However, these tests may be more effective when used in combination with other clinical indices of dementia such as a change in subjects' activities of daily living.