Motor apraxia in dementia.

Motor apraxia was assessed in 25 patients with presumed dementia of the Alzheimer type and 23 patients with presumed multi-infarct dementia. Apraxia was common in both groups and was usually only mild. It correlated most strongly with language-related impairments in the Alzheimer group, as has been found in other patient groups, whereas in the group with multi-infarct dementia the pattern of correlations was less clear. It was not strongly related to performance on tests involving constructional praxis or to age in either group. Implications of the findings for clinical assessment are noted.