Sensitivity of age-decline resistant ("hold") WAIS subtests to Alzheimer's disease

WAIS age-decline-resistant ("hold") and age-decline-sensitive ("don't hold") subtests were both effective in discriminating 25 patients with Alzheimer-type dementia (DAT) from 25 normal elderly subjects who were matched on age, education, and sex. We found that global ratings of severity of dementia correlated significantly with the WAIS Information and Digit Symbol subtests, but not with memory test scores. These data indicate that (1) the practice of estimating premorbid ability based on current "hold" test performance should be abandoned, and (2) the utility of memory tests is greatest for initial diagnosis of DAT, while WAIS cognitive variables may be more useful in evaluating DAT severity.