Cognitive assessment in alzheimer's disease: What does the camcog assess?

✍ Scribed by A. Greifenhagen; A. Kurz; M. Wiseman; M. Haupt; R. Zimmer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 582 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930090909

✦ Synopsis

The CAMDEX (Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination) is a widely used instrument for the diagnosis of dementia. It contains a cognitive section (CAMCOG) which consists of 60 items grouped into eight a priori subscales (orientation, language, memory, praxis, attention, abstract thinking, perception and calculation). A principal component analysis was performed on CAMCOG data from 191 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (mild to moderate dementia). The analysis identified four factors which were interpreted clinically as representing languageipraxis, visuoconstructive abilities, remote memory and short-term memory. These factors differed in number and in composition from the a priori subscales postulated by the developers of the instrument. The results of the principal component analysis of empirical CAMCOG data demonstrate an overlap and potentiation of different cognitive deficits in AD. KEY woms-Cognitive assessment, CAMCOG, Alzheimer's disease.

The Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination (CAMDEX; Roth et al., 1986) is a standardized instrument for the diagnosis of dementia. It consists of a structured interview with the patient and with his caregiver on current symptoms, activities of daily living and the patient's history. The cognitive examination of the patient (CAMCOG) contains 60 questions which refer to various cognitive abilities. It has also been designed for the documentation of profiles of cognitive deficits. On a priori grounds the developers of the instrument have grouped the 60 items of the CAM-COG into eight subscales: orientation, language, memory, praxis, attention, abstract thinking, perception and calculation. The underlying assumption probably is that particular questions of the instrument correspond to circumscript cognitive functions.