The relationship of agraphia to the severity of dementia in Alzheimer's disease
J. Horner, A. Heyman, D. Dawson and H. Rogers
Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
Impairment of writing ability was studied in 20 patients with mild to
moderate dementia caused by early-onset Alzheimer's disease. A
multicomponent analysis was made of a brief narrative writing sample
obtained from each patient, and this writing proficiency score was compared
with results of standard tests of cognitive function as well as ratings of
the degree of dementia. In these patients, significant correlations were
observed between this brief test of narrative writing ability and the
severity of dementia. An analysis of writing proficiency appears to be a
simple means of assessing the severity of dementia caused by Alzheimer's
disease. Further studies are needed to show the potential usefulness of
such measures of agraphia in subtyping this disease.
