Study: Mild-to-Moderate Alzheimer's Worsens Ability to Make Financial Decisions

The ability of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease to perform simple arithmetic worsens as the disease progresses, according to a study reported in the Archives of Neurology.

The study involved 20 Alzheimer’s patients, including 11 with a mild form of the disease and nine with a moderate form of the disease, and 23 elderly people without Alzheimer’s disease who served as controls.

Study participants were given oral and written arithmetic tests and overall group differences were examined.

The researchers found that those with mild Alzheimer’s Disease can perform simple written calculations, but show marked impairment as the complexity of the task increases. Meanwhile, patients with moderate Alzheimer’s Disease demonstrated impairment with the simplest arithmetic skills.

“The decline in calculation abilities seems to be a hallmark cognitive feature in Alzheimer’s patients,” said lead researcher Daniel Marson, associate professor of neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“These findings indicate that persons with Alzheimer’s Disease are at risk of making poor financial decisions with potentially devastating results,” Marson added.

Other sources: Archives of Neurology 2003;60:1585-1589