Cognitive functioning among individuals with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, and no cognitive impairments.

Overview

OBJECTIVE: To compare patterns of cognitive functioning in older adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and no neurological disorder (ND). DESIGN: Group comparison. SETTING: Outpatient setting of a large urban tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults: 56 with TBI, 64 with AD, and 50 with neurological disorder. INTERVENTION(S): None. RESULTS: Older adults with AD and TBI had lower scores in most areas of cognitive functioning examined than the individuals with neurological disorder. Individuals with AD had lower scores in memory, processing speed, and verbal fluency than did individuals with TBI. Specifically, individuals with AD did not retain learned information over time. CONCLUSION(S): Cognitive impairments were present in older adults with AD and TBI. However, individuals with TBI were better able to learn and retain new information than were individuals with AD.