Monitoring Alzheimer's patients for acute changes in cognitive functioning

To develop and evaluate the use of cognitive monitoring for detecting episo des of acute, excess cognitive decline in individual Alzheimer's disease (A D) patients, the authors conducted six repeated cognitive assessments over II weeks on 41 ootherwise healthy people with mild-to-moderate AD. Patients demonstrated stable cognitive performance over II weeks on seven standard neuropsychological tests. Prediction intervals quantitatively defined the e xpected limits of cognitive decline They indicated with 90% certainty that over the 11-week period, healthy mild-to-moderate AD patients should not de cline more than 4 points on the Word List Recall test, 3 points on the Digi t Span test, or 8 items on the Digit Symbol or Verbal fluency rests. The co gnitive stability of healthy AD patients indicates that it is possible to m onitor them for acute, excess cognitive decline.