Awareness of time in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

A prospective study of 35 patients with moderate or mild dementia of the Alzheimer type was performed to assess and compare their awareness of time. A Mini-Mental Status Examination score was used to separate those 16 patients with mild dementia (range, 15 to 24) from those 19 with moderate dementia (range, 7 to 15). Each patient was scored on awareness of time. Those classified as moderate but not those with mild dementia showed significant loss of awareness of time.