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.)