[Word recognition and confrontation naming in early diagnosis of dementia]

Since early identification of dementia is very important, a simple inexpensive examination for its diagnosis is needed. A naming and recognition test was formulated for: examining factors affecting naming performance, comparing naming and recognition performance, and sampling spontaneous speech. The results were compared with those of the mini-mental test. Subjects were 7 men and 14 women (mean age 80 +/- 4.7) in the early stages of dementia, living in a senior citizen's home. The short mini-mental test differentiated between the groups, as did the newly formulated test. Language tests were shown to be of value in the accurate detection of dementia in its early stages.