Neuropsychological test performance of specific diagnostic groups in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA)

An overview of specific neuropsychological data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging is presented. Variables of interest were diagnosis (no cognitive impairment, cognitive loss without dementia, and dementia), language of test administration (French or English), and residence (community or institution). Persons with dementia scored below persons without dementia on all neuropsychological measures except the naming of coloured tokens. Some test differences were small and not clinically meaningful while others were substantial. In particular, and as expected, memory function differed between the groups. Language of test administration and place of residence also influenced neuropsychological results independently of diagnosis. Scores differed on some tests (primarily, visuospatial) depending on whether participants lived in institutions or in the community. Persons tested in French scored below those tested in English on many language-based tests.