Vasodilators and nootropics as predictors of dementia and mortality in the PAQUID cohort.

Objectives: To assess the effects of treatment for memory impairment and the Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) on dementia, mortality, and survival without dementia.

Design: Prospective community-based cohort study.

Setting: France.

A longitudinal study of quantitative and qualitative features of category verbal fluency in incident Alzheimer's disease subjects: results from the PAQUID study.

Category fluency tests were administered at baseline and after 3 and 5 years on two subgroups of subjects from a population-based cohort of elderly subjects: 52 cases of incident possible and probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 104 age- and education-matched subjects who remained nondemented. Quantitative and qualitative features of category fluency were assessed to determine how changes occur within 5 years of the diagnosis of AD. Consistent with previous results, we found that the number of words produced on this task was already significantly lower 5 years before the diagnosis in subjects with incident AD as compared with subjects who did not become demented.

Influence of education on the benton visual retention test performance as mediated by a strategic search component.

Age-related cognitive decline has been reported by several studies. However, little investigations have dealt with the effect of education on this decline. In the present study, we examined the influence of educational level on visual working memory, evaluated by the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT in recognition format) in 829 elderly participants of the PAQUID study.

Inter-rater reliability of scales and tests used to measure mild cognitive impairment by general practitioners and psychologists.

Background: This study was conducted to assess whether general practitioners (GPs) can be trained to use a simple battery of functional scales and neuropsychological tests to detect people likely to develop dementia as reliably as neuropsychologists in clinical practice.

Methods: Fifty GPs with medium-sized practices in the Bordeaux area of France were recruited by monitors and trained to use a battery of tests (Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Isaacs Set Test (IST), Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) and Zazzo's Cancellation Test (ZCT)). Each GP was required to recruit one patient.