Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:04:58.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly subjects in two tests of long-term memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2004

RICARDO NITRINI ,
PAULO CARAMELLI ,
EMÍLIO HERRERA ,
CLÁUDIA SELLITTO PORTO ,
HELENICE CHARCHAT-FICHMAN ,
MARIA TERESA CARTHERY ,
LEONEL TADAO TAKADA  and
EDSON PEREIRA LIMA
RICARDO NITRINI
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
PAULO CARAMELLI
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
EMÍLIO HERRERA
Affiliation:
Catanduva School of Medicine, Catanduva, Brazil
CLÁUDIA SELLITTO PORTO
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
HELENICE CHARCHAT-FICHMAN
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
MARIA TERESA CARTHERY
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
LEONEL TADAO TAKADA
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
EDSON PEREIRA LIMA
Affiliation:
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Brazil
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cognitive evaluation in developing countries is a difficult undertaking due to low levels of schooling and particularly the illiteracy still frequent in the elderly. This study was part of the epidemiologic evaluation of dementia in Catanduva, Brazil, and had the objective of comparing the performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly individuals in 2 tests of long-term memory—the delayed recall of a word list from the CERAD and the delayed recall of common objects presented as simple drawings from the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB). Fifty-one elderly subjects (23 illiterates) were evaluated, and the performance of the illiterates and literates differed in the CERAD memory test, but not in the BCSB memory test. This test may be more suitable for the assessment of long-term memory in populations with a high frequency of illiterates, and therefore might prove to be a useful screening tool for the diagnosis of dementia. (JINS, 2004, 10, 634–638.)

Keywords

Neuropsychological evaluationIlliteracyEducationCERADDementia
Type
BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , July 2004 , pp. 634 - 638
Copyright
2004 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alexopoulos, G.S., Abrams, R.C., Young, R.C., & Shamoian, C.A. (1988). Cornell Scale for depression in dementia. Biological Psychiatry, 23, 271–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertolucci, P.H.F., Brucki, S.M., Campacci, S.R., & Juliano, Y. (1994). O mini-exame do estado mental em uma população geral [The Mini-Mental State Examination in a general population: Impact of educational status]. Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria, 52, 1–7.Google Scholar
Bertolucci, P.H., Okamoto, I.H., Brucki, S.M., Siviero, M.O., Toniolo Neto, J., & Ramos, L.R. (2001). Applicability of the CERAD neuropsychological battery to Brazilian elderly. Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria, 59, 532–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondi, M.W., Salmon, D.P., & Butters, N.M. (1994). Neuropsychological features of memory disorders in Alzheimer disease. In R.D. Terry, R. Katzman, & K.L. Bick (Eds.), Alzheimer disease (pp. 41–63). New York: Raven Press.
Brucki, S.M.D., Malheiros, S.M.F., Okamoto, I.H., & Bertolucci, P.H.F. (1997). Normative data on the verbal fluency test in the animal category in our milieu. Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria, 55, 57–61.Google Scholar
Buschke, H. & Fuld, P.A. (1974). Evaluating storage, retention, and retrieval in disordered memory and learning. Neurology, 24, 1019–1025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caramelli, P., Herrera, E., & Nitrini, R. (1998). The mini-mental state examination in a cohort of illiterate elderly patients [Abstract]. Annals of Neurology, 44, 495.Google Scholar
Folstein, M.F., Folstein, S.E., & McHugh, P.R. (1975). “Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, E., Jr., Caramelli, P., Silveira, A.S.B., & Nitrini, R. (2002). Epidemiologic survey of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 16, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, G., Shen, Y.C., Chen, C.H., Zhao, Y.W., Li, S.R., & Lu, M. (1989). An epidemiological survey of age-related dementia in an urban area of Beijing. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 79, 557–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manly, J., Jacobs, D.M., Sano, M., Bell, K., Merchant, C.A., Small, S.A., & Stern, Y. (1999). Effect of literacy on neuropsychological test performance in non-demented, education-matched elders. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 5, 191–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, J.C., Heyman, A., Mohs, R.C., Hughes, J.P., van Belle, G., Fillenbaum G., Mellits E.D., Clark, C., & CERAD investigators. (1989). The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD). Part 1. Clinical and neuropsychological assessment of Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 39, 1159–1165.Google Scholar
Nitrini, R., Caramelli, P., Herrera, E., Jr., Bahia, V.S., Porto, C.S., Charchat, H., Oliveira, B.A., Rigatto, M., & Smid, J. (1999). Diagnosis of dementia in illiterate elderly subjects [Abstract]. Neurology, 52 (Suppl. 2), A435–A436.Google Scholar
Nitrini, R., Lefèvre, B.H., Mathias, S.C., Caramelli, P., Carrilho, P.E.M., Sauaia, N., Massad, E., Takiguti, C., da Silva, I.O., Porto, C.S., Magila, M.C., & Scaff, M. (1994). Testes neuropsicológicos de aplicação simples para o diagnóstico de demência [Neuropsychological tests of simple application for diagnosing dementia]. Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria, 52, 457–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrosky-Solis, F., Ardila, A., Rosselli, M., Lopez-Arango, G., & Uriel-Mendoza, V. (1998). Neuropsychological test performance in illiterate subjects. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 13, 645–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, R.I., Kurosaki, T.T., Harrah, C.H., Chance, J.M., & Filis, S. (1982). Measurement of functional activities in older adults in the community. Journal of Gerontolology, 37, 323–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, M., Acosta, D., Chiu, H., Scazufca, M., Varghese, M., & 10/66 Dementia Research Group. (2003). Dementia diagnosis in developing countries: A cross-cultural validation study. Lancet, 361, 909–917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reis, A. & Castro-Caldas, A. (1997). Illiteracy: A cause for biased cognitive development. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 3, 444–450.Google Scholar
Sunderland, T., Hill, J.L., Melow, A.M., Lawlor, B.A., Gundersheimer, J., Newhouse, P.A., & Grafman, J.H. (1989). Clock drawing in Alzheimer's disease: A novel measure of dementia severity. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 37, 725–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsh, K., Butters, N., Hughes, J., Mohs, R., & Heyman, A. (1991). Detection of abnormal memory decline in mild cases of Alzheimer's disease using CERAD neuropsychological measures. Archives of Neurology, 48, 278–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zunzunegui, M.V., Gutiérrez Cuadra, P., Béland, F., Del Ser, T., & Wolfson, C. (2000). Development of simple cognitive function measures in a community dwelling population of elderly in Spain. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 130–140.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle Scholar