J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1993; 5:277-282
Copyright © 1993 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
Similarities and differences in memory deficits in patients with primary dementia and depression-related cognitive dysfunction
CD Hill, A Stoudemire, R Morris, D Martino-Saltzman and HR Markwalter
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
The authors examined differences between the verbal memory performance of
older patients with major depression (MD) alone; major depression with
reversible depression-related cognitive dysfunction (MD/DRCD); and primary
dementia and major depression (DEM/MD). Patients were evaluated before
antidepressant treatment and 6 and 15 months after treatment. Of the three
groups, patients with MD alone acquired significantly more information on
the California Verbal Learning Test and showed a more pronounced primacy
effect. Patients with DEM/MD were more likely to commit errors of
intrusion. Although older depressed patients with MD/DRCD may resemble
patients with DEM/MD on some aspects of verbal memory performance,
differences may be observed in the types of learning errors they commit.
Diagnostic implications are discussed.
