Dementia rating scale performance: a comparison of vascular and Alzheimer's dementia.

Differences in the pattern of neuropsychological dysfunction associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) were examined using the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS). We examined three groups of patients: (1) Patients with AD; (2) patients with single stroke (CVA); and (3) patients with multiple cerebral infarctions (MI). Comparisons of cognitive dysfunction were conducted on patients that met the DRS criteria for dementia. Dementia groups were similar in age, education, and severity of dementia. Comparisons of the AD and two VaD groups across the specific DRS-scales (Attention, Conceptualization, Construction, Initiation/Perseveration, and Memory) indicated that patients with AD were more impaired on the DRS-Memory while the patients with VaD were more impaired on the DRS-Construction. Additionally, patients with VaD related to MI scored lower on the DRS-Initiation/Perseveration as compared to patients with AD, and patients with AD scored lower on the DRS-Conceptualization as compared to patients with VaD related to CVA. These results are indicative of qualitative differences in the pattern of cognitive deficits associated with the two types of dementia.