Unlike patients with irreversible dementia, elderly depressed patients
with cognitive impairment are thought to have relatively preserved
recognition, memory, and language abilities. To test this hypothesis, the
authors compared memory and naming performance in elderly hospitalized
patients with major depression alone, reversible dementia of depression, or
irreversible dementia. All patient groups performed worse than nondemented,
nondepressed control subjects on memory tasks. Patients with dementia of
depression performed worse than depressed patients with normal cognition on
tests of free recall, delayed recall, and verbal delayed memory but not on
tests of delayed visual memory. Patients with dementia of depression and
patients with irreversible dementia were severely compromised in both speed
and accuracy on the confrontation naming task.Abstract Teaser