Specifically, among study participants who had dementia after age 64, the average score on the 1932 intelligence test was 32.1, compared with 36.2 for participants in the control group. The test-score difference between people with and without dementia became statistically significant at age 72.
In addition, highly intelligent people have been found, on average, to show clinical signs of Alzheimer's later than the general population. Once they do, they decline much faster. Thought to reflect their greater mental reserves, this different pattern may call for a different approach to diagnosis.
Stage 7 – Very severe cognitive decline. Stage seven is the final stage of the dementia progression. At this stage, most people will have no ability to speak or communicate. They will require assistance with most daily activities including walking, dressing, bathing, and toileting.
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
This test is currently the most widely used cognitive assessment tool. It takes 10-15 minutes to administer. It is scored out of 30, with a score below 24 suggesting dementia.
A score of 25 or lower (from maximum of 30) is considered significant cognitive impairment. It performs at least as well as MMSE, including in screening for dementia. It has been widely translated.
The maximum score for the MMSE is 30. A score of 25 or higher is classed as normal. If the score is below 24, the result is usually considered to be abnormal, indicating possible cognitive impairment.
The range of possible scores is 0 to 27. Score interpretation: A score of four points or less is regarded as normal. A score between five and 14 points inclusive suggests mild cognitive impairment. A score of 15 or more points suggests dementia.
The measured IQ for persons with mild ID is between 50–55 and 70 (based on population mean of 100; 1 standard deviation of 15, and margin of measurement error of ±5) (8,10,13-16).
The ACE-R is scored out of 100. Scores in the mid 80's suggest serious cognitive impairment or dementia. Most healthy elderly individuals will score in the 90's.
13 to 15 points: intact cognition. 8 to 12 points: moderately impaired cognition. 0-7 points: severely impaired cognition.
The average life expectancy figures for the most common types of dementia are as follows: Alzheimer's disease – around eight to 10 years. Life expectancy is less if the person is diagnosed in their 80s or 90s. A few people with Alzheimer's live for longer, sometimes for 15 or even 20 years.
Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
There are many different types of dementia and all of them are progressive. This means symptoms may be relatively mild at first but they get worse with time, usually over several years. These include problems with memory, thinking, problem-solving or language, and often changes in emotions, perception or behaviour.
Is good memory an indicator of intelligence? Essentially, yes, but not in the way you may think. Short-term memory storage is linked to greater signs of intelligence as measured in IQ tests. But having perfect recall isn't necessarily correlated with high intelligence.
People with high intelligence are likely to have this ability. The ability to store more items in short-term memory indicates a higher IQ, psychological research reveals. While there may be no limit to long-term memory, short-term memory is much smaller.
Studies have also found that higher IQ is associated with more mental illness, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
The score of 16 on the MMSE seems to mark a transition point below which disruptions of basic everyday activities begin to emerge within 12 months. At this level, the patient requires partial or total assistance with everyday activities.
The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) is considered a very useful instrument to assess patients with dementia. The tasks are grouped into five subscales, each one evaluating different cognitive areas, namely: Attention, Initiation/Perseveration (I/P), Construction, Conceptualization and Memory.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a tool that helps healthcare professionals detect mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease in people. A 2021 study found that it is a better measure of cognitive function than the MMSE. It consists of 30 questions that take 10–12 minutes to accomplish.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
Administration: The examiner reads a list of 5 words at a rate of one per second, giving the following instructions: “This is a memory test. I am going to read a list of words that you will have to remember now and later on. Listen carefully. When I am through, tell me as many words as you can remember.
A perfect score is 30 points; a score of 24 is the recommended,4 and most frequently used,2 cutpoint for dementia; a score of 23 or lower indicates dementia. A cutoff score for lesser forms of impairment, eg, mild cognitive impairment, has not been established or implemented with any consistency.
Signs and symptoms of mild dementia include memory loss, confusion about the location of familiar places, taking longer than usual to accomplish normal daily tasks, trouble handling money and paying bills, poor judgment leading to bad decisions, loss of spontaneity and sense of initiative, mood and personality changes, ...
A score of 6 or less suggests delirium or dementia, although further tests are necessary to confirm the diagnosis.