Characterization of memory in hospitalized adults and elderly

Abstract

Introduction: memory alterations influence communication interfering in quality of life. Purpose: characterize the semantic, working and short-term memory in hospitalizes adults and elderly patients. Method: thirty hospitalized adults and elderly, in a regional hospital were submitted to memory tests: message recall, word and digits repetition (direct and reverse order), verbal fluency and phonological and semantic abstraction and semantic memory. Results: 76.7% of patients had some difficulty recalling the message. A median score in repetition test was verified: 5.5 for words, 5.0 to digits in direct order and 4,0 to digits in reverse order. Verbal Fluency Semantic and Phonological proved to be correlated. In abstraction and semantic memory task data indicated more difficulty in proverbs interpretation. Conclusion: a significant number of hospitalized patients demonstrated difficulties in memory tests.