Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Original Model of Cognitive Decline

In order to characterize the neuropsychologic profile of patients with hypoxic-hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the performance of 36 patients with COPD 69 ± 10 yr of age (mean ± SD) on 19 tests exploring eight cognitive domains was compared with those of 29 normal adults (69 ± 7 yr of age), 20 normal elderly adults (78 ± 2 yr of age), 26 patients with Alzheimer-type dementia (72 ± 6 yr of age), and 28 with multiinfarct dementia (MID) (70 ± 8 yr of age). The discriminant analysis of cognitive test scores showed that 48.5% of patients with COPD had a specific pattern of cognitive deterioration characterized by a dramatic impairment in verbal and verbal memory tasks, well-preserved visual attention, and diffuse worsening of the other functions. The remaining patients with COPD were functionally classified as normal adults (12.1%), normal elderly adults (15.2%), those with MID (12.1%), and those with Alzheimer-type dementia (12.1%) according to discriminant analysis. Cognitive impair...