No abstract

The National Adult Reading Test (NART), used to estimate premorbid mental ability, involves pronunciation of irregular words. The authors demonstrate that, after controlling for age 11 IQ test scores, mean NART scores do not differ in people with and without dementia. The correlation between age 11 IQ and NART scores at about age 80 was similar in the groups with (r = 0.63, p < 0.001) and without (r = 0.60, p < 0.001) dementia. These findings validate the NART as an estimator of premorbid ability in mild to moderate dementia.

No abstract

Lower fluid-type ("prevailing") intelligence test scores were associated with increased severity of white matter lesion ratings but not crystallized-type ("premorbid") intelligence test scores. This indicates that MR imaging-depicted white matter lesions are of clinical importance.

In the absence of dementia, childhood IQ, HADS and LOT explain 26.9% of the variance in QoL as reported by community-resident old people. The direction of association between current anxiety and depressive symptoms and lower QoL is uncertain. Lower childhood IQ may contribute to coping less well with later life. Lower QoL is not an invariable concomitant of mild cognitive decline.