EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC-FACTORS AND MENTAL STATUS ON WECHSLER MEMORY SCALE PERFORMANCE IN A GERIATRIC CLINIC SAMPLE

A sample of 114 geriatric clinic patients over the age of 64 were refe rred by primary-care physicians secondary to memory complaints. All pa tients were administered the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and the Mini- Mental State Exam (MMSE). Hierarchical multiple-regression analyses us ing WMS total raw score as the dependent measure and age, education, a nd MMSE raw scores as predictors were conducted for the entire sample as well as for high-scoring and low-scoring MMSE groups within the sam ple. Age failed to predict a significant amount of WMS total score var iance in any of the groups studied. General mental status (as measured by MMSE) was a significant predictor across all the groups. Education was a statistically significant predictor in the entire sample and in the low-scoring MMSE group. Reasons for the observed patterns are dis cussed as they pertain to this special patient sample.