Loss of Calculation Abilities in Patients With Mild and Moderate Alzheimer Disease

Abstract

A decline in calculation abilities is one of the hallmark cognitive features of AD. Patients with mild AD maintain relative preservation of simple written calculation skills but demonstrate marked impairment as task complexity increases. Patients with moderate AD demonstrate global impairments extending to the simplest arithmetic skills. These findings suggest that loss of calculation abilities in AD is both hierarchical (by arithmetic operation) and a function of disease severity.