Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T15:10:47.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pattern of memory compromise in chronic geriatric schizophrenia, frontotemporal dementia and normal geriatric controls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Jessica Foley ,
Charles Golden ,
Edward Simco ,
Barry Schneider ,
Robert McCue  and
Lindsay Shaw
Jessica Foley*
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Charles Golden
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Edward Simco
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Barry Schneider
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Robert McCue
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Lindsay Shaw
Affiliation:
Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
*
Jessica Foley, Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA. Tel: +310 478 3711; Fax: +310 206 8525; E-mail: jfoley@mednet.ucla.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to explore whether memory deficits in schizophrenia are attributable to poor organisation/encoding during initial learning vs. memory decay.

Methods:

Subjects included geriatric schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders [SSD; n = 37; age = 59.92 (55–74); education = 11.70 (7–18)]; frontotemporal dementia [FTD; n = 41; age = 76.59 (64–83); education = 14.61 (12–20)] and geriatric controls [n = 107; age = 70.97 (55–93); education = 13.76 (6–20)]. Subjects were administered the Wechsler Memory Scale, Third Edition and discrepancy scores between immediate and delayed subtests/indices were used to explore possible differences between groups in pattern of impairment.

Results:

Significant differences were found between groups on age/education and these variables were related to several outcome measures. Gender was not related to diagnostic group and there were no gender differences on study variables. There were differences between the SSD subjects on several variables, with the schizoaffective subjects performing worse despite equivalence on global cognitive function, living status and chronicity. Seven one-way between-subjects ANCOVAs compared groups on discrepancy scores. Results failed to suggest differences between groups on immediate-delayed memory discrepancy scores (p> 0.05). Subsequent analyses revealed differences in percentage retention scores between SSD and FTD on the faces subtest (p = 0.040), with SSD retaining greater information over time.

Conclusion:

Results failed to show distinctions between groups on pattern of memory impairment when using discrepancy comparisons. However, an analysis examining percentage retention scores revealed better maintenance of non-contextual visual information over time in SSD. Findings may suggest deficits in immediate encoding rather than memory decay for some types of memory ability among geriatric SSD. Our failure to document group differences when using discrepancy comparisons may be attributable to relative similarity in pattern between groups or the limited sensitivity of this technique.

Keywords

dementiageriatric neuropsychiatrymemoryneuropsychologyschizophrenia
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 9 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 Blackwell Munksgaard

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

Gold, JM, Randolph, C, Carpenter, CJet al. Forms of memory failure in schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 1992;101:487–494. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meiran, N, Levine, J, Meiran, Net al. Task set switching in Schizophrenia. Neuropsychology 2000;14:471–482. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brébion, G, David, AS, Jones, Het al. Semantic organization and verbal memory efficiency in patients with schizophrenia. Neuropsychology 2004;18:378–383. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gold, JM, Rehkemper, G, Binks, SW IIIet al. Learning and forgetting in schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 2000;109:534–538. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levin, S, Yurgelun-Todd, D, Craft, S. Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 1989;98:341–356. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenna, PJ, Tamlyn, D, Lund, CEet al. Amnestic syndrome in Schizophrenia. Psychol Med 1990;20:967–972. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, M, Harvey, P, Welsh, KAet al. Cognitive functioning in late-life schizophrenia: a comparison of elderly schizophrenic patients and patients with Alzheimer's disease. Am J Psychiatry 1996;159:1388–1394. Google Scholar
Heaton, R, Paulsen, JS, McAdams, LAet al. Neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenics: relationship to age, chronicity and dementia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1994;51:469–476. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glosser, G, Gallo, JL, Clark, CMet al. Memory encoding and retrieval in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychology 2002;16:190–196. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, KA, Sullivan, TE, Choi, EJ. Memory deficits in schizophrenia: inadequate assimilation or true amnesia? Findings from the Wechsler Memory Scale – revised. J Psychiatry Neurosci 1997;22:169–179. Google ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, KA. Memory deficits in patients with schizophrenia: preliminary data from the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition support earlier findings. J Psychiatry Neurosci 1999;2:341–347. Google Scholar
Brenner, CA, Lysaker, PH, Wilt, MAet al. Visual processing and neuropsychological function in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Psychiatry Res 2002;30:125–136. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, M, Bryson, G, Wexler, BE. Cognitive remediation of working memory deficits: durability of training effects in severely impairment and less severely impaired schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2003;108:101–109. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C, Kumari, V, Soni, Wet al. Longitudinal study of symptoms and cognitive function in chronic schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2002;59:137–146. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manschreck, TC, Maher, BA, Beaudette, SMet al. Context memory in schizoaffective and schizophrenic disorders. Schizophr Res 1997;26:153–161. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pope, JW, Kern, RS. An effortful learning deficit in schizophrenia? J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2006;28:101–110. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beatty, WW, Jocic, Z, Monson, Net al. Memory and frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. J Nerv Ment Dis 1993;181:448–453. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gooding, DC, Tallent, KA. Spatial working memory performance in patients with schizoaffective psychosis versus schizophrenia: a tale of two disorders? Schizophr Res 2002;15:209–218. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roofeh, D, Cottone, J, Burdick, KEet al. Deficits in memory strategy use are related to verbal memory impairments in adolescents with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Schizophr Res 2006;85:201–212. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, MF, Folstein, SE, McHugh, PR. Mini-mental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 1975;12:189–198. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowie, CR, Harvey, PD, Moriarty, PJet al. Cognitive assessment of geriatric schizophrenic patients with severe impairment. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2002;17:611–623. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000. Google Scholar
First, MB, Spitzer, RI, Gibbon, Met al. Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorder: patient edition (SCID-I/P). New York: Biometrics Research Department New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1995. Google Scholar
Davison, M, Harvey, PD, Powchik, Pet al. Severity of symptoms in chronically institutionalized geriatric schizophrenic patients. Am J Psychiatry 1995;152:197–207. Google Scholar
Friedman, JI, Harvey, PD, Coleman, Tet al. Six-year follow-up of cognitive and functional status across the lifespan in schizophrenia: a comparison with Alzheimer’s disease and normal aging. Am J Psychiatry 2001;158:1441–1448. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, PD, Bertisch, H, Friedman, JIet al. The course of functional decline in geriatric patients with schizophrenia: cognitive-functional and clinical symptoms as determinants of change. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2003;11:610–619. Google ScholarPubMed
Hoff, AL, Harris, D, Faustman, WOet al. A neuropsychological study of early onset schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1996;20:21–28. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The Lund and Manchester Groups. Clinical and neuropathological criteria for frontotemporal dementia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1994;57:416–418. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKhann, G, Drachman, D, Folstein, Met al. Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: report of the NINCDS-ADRDA work group under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. Neurology 1984;34:939–944. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. Wechsler memory scale-third edition: administration and scoring manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation, 1997. Google Scholar
Daban, A, Martinez-Aran, A, Torrent, Cet al. Specificity of cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder versus schizophrenia: a systematic review. Psychother Psychosom 2006;75:72–84. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powchik, P, Davidson, M, Nemeroff, CBet al. Alzheimer’s-disease-related protein in geriatric schizophrenic patients with cognitive impairment. Am J Psychiatry 1993;150:1726–1727. Google ScholarPubMed
Jellinger, KA, Gabriel, E. No increased incidence of Alzheimer's disease in elderly schizophrenics. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1999;97:165–169. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purohit, DP, Perl, DP, Haroutunian, Vet al. Alzheimer disease and related neurodegenerative disease in patients with schizophrenia: a postmortem neuropathologic study of 100 cases. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1998;55:205–211. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heaton, RK, Gladsjo, JA, Palmer, BWet al. Stability and course of neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001;58:24–32. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zorrilla, LTE. Cross-sectional study of older outpatients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects: no differences in age-related cognitive decline. Am J Psychiatry 2000;157:1324–1326. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, PD, Parrella, M, White, Let al. Convergence of cognitive and adaptive decline in late-life schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1999;35:77–84. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, PD, Silverman, JM, Mohs, RCet al. Cognitive decline in late-life Schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of geriatric chronically hospitalized patients. Biol Psychiatry 1999;45:32–40. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zakzanis, KK, Leach, L, Kaplan, E. Neuropsychological differential diagnosis: studies on neuropsychology, development, and cognition series three. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers, 1999. Google Scholar
Perry, RJ, Hodges, JR. Differentiating frontal and temporal variant frontotemporal dementia from Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 2000;54:2277–2284. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, B. Increasing the power for detecting impairment in older adults with the Faces subtest from Wechsler Memory Scale-III: an empirical trial. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2006;21:687–692. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed