Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To define the cognitive characteristics of Pick disease (PcD), and to determine which features distinguish PcD from Alzheimer disease (AD), in a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.
METHODS: The participants were 44 patients with PcD (10 pathologically verified), 121 patients with AD (14 pathologically verified), and 60 normal control subjects. We obtained information regarding the initial symptom of dementia from each patient's caregiver, estimated global dementia severity by the Blessed Dementia Scale and the Activities of Daily Living Scale, and assessed specific cognitive domains by administering 10 tests of memory, language, visuospatial, and reasoning abilities and selective attention.
RESULTS: Among initial symptoms reported by caregivers, personality change and language impairment were significantly more common in PcD than AD; deficits in memory were common in both groups but more prevalent in AD (P<.001 at="" initial="" cognitive="" testing="" the="" scores="" of="" patients="" with="" pcd="" were="" inferior="" to="" those="" normal="" controls="" on="" all="" tests="" except="" a="" measure="" visuospatial="" function="" ad="" tests.="" superior="" measures="" explicit="" memory="" and="" .001="" but="" had="" greater="" impairments="" activities="" daily="" living="" scale="" during="" course="" illness="" declined="" significantly="" faster="" than="" language="" global="" dementia="" severity="" whereas="" reasoning="" abilities="" worsened="" equally="" in="" both="" patient="" groups.=""> CONCLUSIONS: There is a characteristic cognitive profile and course of dementia in PcD. Nonetheless, cognitive test performance does not clearly distinguish PcD from AD.