Psychometric assessment in absence status.

A 66-year-old woman had a ten-year history of attacks of absence status lasting two days. The clinical and psychometric manifestations of absence status in this patients were identical to those found in dementia. Unless a history of fluctuation in the behavioral disturbance is obtained, such a case of absence status may be misdiagnosed as dementia. The results of the longitudinal assessment indicated that the patient suffered more frequent episodes of cognitive impairment than she realized and that such dificits lasted longer than was initially believed.