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Agraphia in Korean patients with early onset Alzheimer's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2011

Ji Hye Yoon ,
Mee Kyung Suh ,
Yong Jeong ,
Hyun-Jung Ahn ,
So Young Moon ,
Juhee Chin ,
Sang Won Seo  and
Duk L. Na
Ji Hye Yoon
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Mee Kyung Suh
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Yong Jeong
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Bioengineering, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Hyun-Jung Ahn
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
So Young Moon
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea
Juhee Chin
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Sang Won Seo*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Duk L. Na
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Sang Won Seo, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul 135–710, Republic of Korea. Phone: +82-2-3410-1233; Fax: +82-2-3410-0052. Email: sangwonseo@empal.com.
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Abstract

Background: Agraphia in Korean patients may be different from agraphia in other patients who use alphabetical writing systems due to the “visuoconstructional script” characteristics of the Korean writing system, Hangul. Patients with early onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) have a severe degree of hypometabolism in the parietal area, which is known to be involved in processing visuospatial function. Thus, we explored the diverse error patterns manifested in writing single syllables in Korean patients with EOAD.

Methods: A study sample of 35 patients with EOAD and 18 healthy controls (HC) performed a Hangul writing task. We analyzed the erroneous responses of the subjects according to visuoconstructional and linguistic characteristics. In addition, we evaluated the relationship between Hangul writing and the neuropsychological variables as well as the severity of dementia.

Results: When comparing the total number of erroneous responses between EOAD and HC groups, the performances of EOAD patients were significantly worse than those of HC. EOAD patients demonstrated visuoconstructional errors even in the early stages of the disease. Severity of dementia and multiple cognitive domains such as attention, language, immediate memory, and frontal executive functions significantly correlated with the performance of Hangul writing.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that patients with EOAD exhibit not only linguistic errors but also visuoconstructional manifestations of agraphia, which are associated with cognitive impairments in the multiple domains.

Keywords

writinglinguisticvisuoconstructional
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 23 , Issue 8 , October 2011 , pp. 1317 - 1326
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2011

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