Avaliação da apraxia em nonagenários: dados de um ambulatório de geriatria

Abstract

Introduction: It is common to describe Apraxia as a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Its appearance in nonagenarian patients is little known. Objective: To evaluate and compare the performance of nonagenarian patients with AD and healthy elderly in the subtests for apraxia. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 78 people with varying degrees of education and 90 years of age or older, through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) and Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (PFAQ). To analyze the presence of apraxia, eight sub-itens of CAMCOG were selected: the drawings of the pentagon, spiral, house, clock; the tasks of putting a piece of paper in an envelope; evaluation of the correct movements with one hand to give “goodbye”, cutting paper with scissors and brush teeth. AD diagnostic was established according to National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and The Alzheimer’s disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) Results: We observed an average MMSE of 18.48 points, CAMLOG 59.94 points and 8.65 points in the sub-itens for Apraxia in the group diagnosed with AD, while the control group had a mean MMSE of 26.15 points, CAMLOG 82 and Apraxia of 9.96 points. Therefore, there are statistically significant differences between the groups in the tests, respectively, p<0.0001, p<0.0001 e p=0.007. A negative moderate and significant correlation coefficient was found between apraxia and PFAQ (r=-0.51; p=0.0003). Conclusion: The presence of in nonagenarian showed significantly higher values in patients with AD compared to controls.