Relationship between Cerebral Imaging and Executive Functions in Egyptian Elderly

Motassem S. Amer, Nagia A. Fahmy, Sarah A. Hamza, Eman F. Tash, Mohammmad A. A. Allaboudy

Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/aar.2014.32015                

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the relationship between executive functions and left sided hemiplegia due to non hemorrhagic supratentorial infarction in elderly Egyptians. It is considered a case control study which was conducted among 90 elderly participants, who were divided into two groups: a case group, 45 cases with cerebral infarctions of 6 months duration or more, and a control group who did not have previous cerebral infarctions. Both groups were selected from Ain shams University Hospital. Each participant was subjected to comprehensive geriatric assessment, executive functions assessment using, block design test, digit span, letter verbal fluency test, animal verbal fluency test and clock drawing test, and then a Computed Tomography (CT) brain was performed. It was found that cases were suffering from more functional impairment than controls, and have had significant lower scores in Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) (P < 0.01). Significant difference was found between both groups as regards performance of executive function tests (P < 0.05). Significant effect of Parietal lobe infarctions was found on Block Design Test, Digit Span Test, Animal Verbal Fluency and Clock Drawing Test (P value < 0.05). Conclusion: There was a significant difference between cases and controls as regards their performance in cognitive and executive function tests.

Keywords

Executive Functions, Cerebral Infarctions, Elderly

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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