Neuropsychological performance was examined among a group of patients with
end-stage heart disease undergoing routine evaluation for transplantation u
sing a matched case-control design. Heart transplant candidates and control
s were matched case by case for gender, race, education and age range. In o
rder to match all 44 controls, a clinical series of 303 heart transplant ca
ndidates evaluated between October 1995 through March 1998 were considered.
Although not specifically matched on variables of estimated IQ and socioec
onomic status, statistical analysis showed no group differences on these va
riables. A separate analysis of variance on each neuropsychological test in
dicated that the heart transplant candidates performed significantly worse
than controls on tasks of fine motor speed and dexterity (i.e., Grooved Peg
Board), psychomotor speed and mental flexibility (i.e., Trail Making Test,
Part B), and abstract reasoning and problem solving ability (i.e., Shipley
Institute of Living Scale-Abstraction subtest). Implications of the result
s and future directions are discussed.