Primitive Plaques and Memory Dysfunction in Normal and Impaired Elderly Persons

To the Editor: We tested 470 elderly persons annually so that those in whom dementia developed could be identified before they would otherwise have come to clinical attention. The subjects were originally 75 to 85 years of age and had normal results for their age on an examination of their mental status (no more than eight errors on the Blessed test^{1 2 3}). Memory was tested according to Fuld Object-Memory Evaluation.^4,5 One hundred twelve subjects made fewer than three errors on the Blessed test over two consecutive years and recalled an average of 7.68 of 10 common objects after distraction on…, No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.