Predictors of cognitive anosognosia in older adults with suspected dementia

Author Info

Dominique Huvent-Grelle Emilie Avondino François Puisieux Jean Roche Pascal Antoine

Corresponding Author

Emilie Avondino
Université de Lille, SCALab, CNRS UMR 9193, France

A B S T R A C T

Objective: Anosognosia heterogeneously affects cognitive functioning and indeed, at the very onset of dementia symptoms. This raises the question of accountable predictors of each cognitive impairment. The objective of this study was to identify the cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of so-called cognitive anosognosia. Method: A paradigm based on the discrepancies between performance predictions and actual performance in the light of the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) helped distinguish cognitive anosognosia in relation to four major functions: Attention Initiation-perseveration, Conceptualisation and Memory. Patients achieved a complete set of neuropsychological tests and assessments of the level of anxiety, apathy and functional independence. Results: Significant correlations existed between all cognitive anosognosia scores (AS) and neuropsychological performance scores of the participants. Similarly, significant correlations were found between the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scores and the Initiation and Conceptualisation AS and between anxiety score and Conceptualisation and Memory AS. However, the regression models were exclusively cognitive for Attention Initiation-perseveration and Memory AS. Only the Conceptualisation AS was predicted by a non-strictly cognitive regression model including the ADL score. Conclusions: If the different specific cognitive anosognosias are predicted by separate sets of variables, our results emphasise that dysexecutive impairment plays a major role regardless of the deficiencies considered.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Wed 13, Jun 2018
Accepted: Wed 27, Jun 2018
Published: Fri 17, Aug 2018

Copyright

© 2023 Emilie Avondino. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.PDR.2018.02.001