Global intellectual deterioration in Alzheimer's disease and a reverse model of intellectual development: An applicability of the Binet scale

Since intellectual deterioration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) might be considered to demonstrate a reverse of the intellectual development of children, we herein investigated the applicability of the Tanaka-Binet Intelligence scale (TB scale). This scale can assess the mental age (MA) and the lower-limit age (LLAge) values, and was reported to be correlated with the tasks determining Piaget's developmental stages of intelligence. Thirty AD patients and 30 age-matched normal control subjects were examined with the scale. We found that the mean MA values of the AD patients and controls were 97.4 and 150.3 months, respectively. In the control group, there were significant correlations between the MA and chronological age, and between the MA and years of education. In the AD patients, there was a significant correlation between the MA and the MMSE score. Regarding the LLAge for the AD patients, similar to the theory of Piaget, there was a tendency that they could be classified into three LLAge groups. We consider that the TB scale is useful in assessing the intellectual function in AD patients.