Abstract

CHARCHAT, Helenice; NITRINI, Ricardo; CARAMELLI, Paulo  and  SAMESHIMA, Koichi. Investigation of Clinic Markers of Early Alzheimer's Disease with Neuropsychological Computerized Tests. Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 2001, vol.14, n.2, pp. 305-316. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722001000200006.

The objective of this study is to investigate clinical markers of early Alzheimer's Disease (AD) using computerized neuropsychological tests. Forty patients with mild probable AD and 73 controls were studied. The groups were matched by sex, age and education. The MEL professional software was used to develop the tests. There were episodic memory (EM), short-term memory (STM) and choice reaction time (CRT) tests. Percentage of correct responses (PCR) and response latency (RL) were registered on each test. The t test was used to compare the groups. The AD group showed PCR significantly lower on EM and STM and showed RL higher on all other tests. The ROC analysis showed that EM, STM and CRT tests were sensitive and specific to discriminate the groups and therefore they were clinical markers of early AD.

Keywords : Computerized tests; neuropsychology; Alzheimer's disease; diagnosis; memory; reaction time.