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Estimating pre-morbid intellectual ability in the Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

R. E. O'Carroll ,
A. Moffoot ,
K. P. Ebmeier  and
G. M. Goodwin
R. E. O'Carroll*
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
A. Moffoot
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
K. P. Ebmeier
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
G. M. Goodwin
Affiliation:
MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr R. E. O'Carroll, MRC Brain Metabolism Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF.
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Synopsis

The National Adult Reading Test (NART) is widely used in clinical and research settings to estimate pre-morbid intellectual levels. The validity of the NART in estimating pre-morbid ability in Alcoholic Korsakoff Syndrome (AKS) is examined in the present study. Twenty AKS subjects were compared with 40 healthy controls. The validity of the NART as a pre-morbid measure in AKS was examined using four methods. AKS subjects made more NART errors than controls, had lower NART predicted IQ than demographically predicted IQ, made more NART errors than predicted by demographic variables and demonstrated NART performance which correlated with degree of memory impairment. It is concluded that NART performance is detrimentally affected by the AKS and that estimating pre-morbid intellectual level in Korsakoff's psychosis using the NART may be invalid. Furthermore, it is postulated that the impaired ability to pronounce correctly irregular words in AKS may reflect a failure in cognitive ‘error checking’ which may represent a consequence of frontal lobe dysfunction.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , November 1992 , pp. 903 - 909
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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