Relationships between dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and cortisol (CRT) plasma levels and everyday memory in Alzheimer's disease patients compared to healthy controls

Fifty-two age-matched Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients (26 men, 26 women), mean age 76.2 years, were assessed with the Rivermead Behavioural Memory T est, a test of everyday memory, coincident with the measurement of plasma c ortisol (CRT) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) via radioimmunoass ay. The AD patients were compared to a control group of age- and gender-mat ched healthy elderly men and women. No differences were found between the A D patients and the controls in DHEAS or CRT levels, or in the DHEAS/CRT rat io. There were no gender differences in DHEAS or CRT levels, or in the DHEA S/CRT ratio in subjects with AD. However, AD patients with higher levels of DHEAS scored better than those with lower levels on the subtests of Rememb ering a Name associated with a picture, Digit Span Total and Forward, and t he Mini Mental Status Exam. AD patients with higher CRT levels performed wo rse on Delayed Route Recall than those with lower levels. These findings su ggest that AD patients with higher endogenous levels of DHEAS may perform b etter on some memory tasks than those with lower levels, while AD patients with lower levels of CRT may perform better than those with higher CRT. (C) 1999 Academic Press.