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Mental Status Examination of an Exceptional Case of Longevity

J. C. Aged 118 Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Karen Ritchie
Karen Ritchie*
Affiliation:
Equipe ‘Vieillissement Cognitif’, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre Val d'Aurelle, Parc Euromédicine, 34094 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
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Abstract

Background

The mental status examination of an extreme case of longevity, J. C., aged 118 years and 9 months, is documented in order to further knowledge regarding profiles of morbidity in the extremely elderly. J. C. is presently considered to have the longest authenticated life-span in the history of the human species.

Method

Neuropsychological tests were improvised taking into account the subject's severe perceptual deficits. The examination was carried out over a six-month period. A CT scan was also conducted.

Results

The subject's performance on tests of verbal memory and language fluency is comparable to that of persons with the same level of education in their eighties and nineties. Frontal lobe functions are relatively spared and there is no evidence of depressive symptomatology or other functional illness. Cognitive functioning was found to slightly improve over a six-month period.

Conclusions

The subject shows no evidence of progressive neurological disease. A high initial level of intellectual ability may have constituted a protective factor.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 2 , February 1995 , pp. 229 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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