Savla Gauri Nayak, Palmer Barton W
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego 92161, USA.
Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2005 Nov;18(6):621-7. doi: 10.1097/01.yco.0000184413.36706.8e.
This review describes a variety of neuropsychological dementia studies published between January 2004 and June 2005. In selecting articles for description in the present paper, our goal was not a comprehensive review of what is an enormous and growing literature, but rather to select and describe individual interesting studies from a sufficient range of dementia-related topics to permit illustration of some of the important questions for which a neuropsychological perspective aids in the understanding of dementias.
Findings in the studies reviewed include a variety of different topics. Some of the themes include the following: (a) Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, but a large body of research documents that there are important cognitive differences among various types of dementia, (b) the emerging research is also important in demonstrating the need for more sensitive clinical screening measures, (c) cognitive data are strongly predictive of functional decline, and (d) subtle declines in verbal learning appear to precede clinical Alzheimer's disease.
Neuropsychological data are key to progress in understanding and developing more effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other dementia. For instance, efforts to identify early markers of dementia will be a key component to development of early intervention strategies.
本综述描述了2004年1月至2005年6月期间发表的各种神经心理学痴呆研究。在选择本文中描述的文章时，我们的目标不是对大量且不断增长的文献进行全面综述，而是从足够广泛的痴呆相关主题中挑选并描述个别有趣的研究，以便说明一些重要问题，从神经心理学角度有助于理解痴呆症。
所综述研究中的发现包括各种不同主题。其中一些主题如下：(a) 阿尔茨海默病是痴呆最常见的病因，但大量研究表明，不同类型的痴呆之间存在重要的认知差异；(b) 新兴研究对于证明需要更敏感的临床筛查措施也很重要；(c) 认知数据强烈预测功能衰退；(d) 语言学习的细微衰退似乎先于临床阿尔茨海默病出现。
神经心理学数据是理解和开发针对阿尔茨海默病及其他痴呆更有效治疗方法取得进展的关键。例如，识别痴呆早期标志物的努力将是早期干预策略发展的关键组成部分。
