Misplacement of something inside the refrigerator is not a sign of dementia, but a probable symptom of attention deficit due to depression
Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical significance of a specific behavior of misplacing items in a refrigerator (i.e., placing extremely unusual things such as remote control and/or cellular phone in a refrigerator) as a symptom of cognitive dysfunction. Patients with m...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
Nature Portfolio
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/55d184de0e6d46749ea8b183f11289d5 |
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| Sumario: | Abstract The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical significance of a specific behavior of misplacing items in a refrigerator (i.e., placing extremely unusual things such as remote control and/or cellular phone in a refrigerator) as a symptom of cognitive dysfunction. Patients with memory complaints were asked whether they ever experienced misplacing items in a refrigerator, such as placing a remote control, a cellular phone, or other extremely unusual things inside a refrigerator (referred to as the ‘fridge sign’). Among the 2172 individuals with memory complaints, 55 (2.5%) experienced symptoms of the ‘fridge sign’. We investigated the cognitive profiles of ‘fridge sign’-positive patients and performed follow-up evaluations with neuropsychological tests or telephone interviews. The ‘fridge sign’ was mostly found in individuals diagnosed as subjective cognitive decline (n = 33, 60%) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 20, 36.4%) with depressive mood and was relatively rare in dementia states (n = 2, 3.5%). Moreover, none of the ‘fridge sign’-positive patients showed significant cognitive decline over the follow-up period. We compared the cognitive profiles and the clinical progression of 20 ‘fridge sign’-positive MCI patients and 40 ‘fridge sign’-negative MCI patients. ‘Fridge sign’-positive MCI patients had worse scores on the Stroop test color reading and had higher scores on the geriatric depression scale than ‘fridge sign’-negative MCI patients, which indicates that the ‘fridge sign’ could be indicative of selective attention deficit in patients with depression rather than indicative of cognitive decline related to dementia. |
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