| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2015 | Volume
: 2
| Issue : 1 | Page : 42-45 |
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Higher mental functioning in dementia: A status assessment
Rajesh Kumar1, Parashar Koirala1, Sarvada C Tiwari2
1 Department of Psychiatry, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal, India
2 Department of Geriatric Mental Health, KGMC, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Rajesh Kumar
B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/2348-9995.161382
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Background: Of the higher mental functions, certain deteriorate earlier than others. The relative deterioration of the different higher mental functions in dementia patients would be of interest to investigate.
Aim: We intended to study the status of higher mental functioning in dementia patients.
Materials and Methods: Household screening of a randomly selected ward, Musahebganj of urban Lucknow generated 1,216 elderly people aged >55 years. After taking the informed consent to participate in the study, all the subjects were screened using the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) for cognitive disorders. Age and education specific cut-off criteria were used to find out MMSE positive subjects. MMSE positive subjects were assessed in detail using the Cambridge Examination for Mental disorder in the Elderly-Revised instrument.
Result: Fifty patients were diagnosed to have dementia as per the international classification of diseases-10 criteria. The study demonstrated that the higher mental functioning especially visual reasoning, ideational fluency, and memory are maximally affected in dementia patients.
Conclusions: The deterioration in higher functioning is usually seen in dementia. The mental functioning relates with each other and is interrelated, leading to overall deterioration. |
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