Cambridge Journals Online

WAIS-III and WMS-III performance in chronic Lyme disease

JOHN G.  KEILP  a1 a2 c1 , KATHY  CORBERA  a1 a3 , IORDAN  SLAVOV  a1 a3 , MICHAEL J.  TAYLOR  a5 , HAROLD A.  SACKEIM  a1 a4 and BRIAN A.  FALLON  a1 a3 a1 Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Department of Psychiatry, New York, New York a2 New York State Psychiatric Institute, Department of Neuroscience, New York, New York a3 New York State Psychiatric Institute, Department of Therapeutics, New York, New York a4 New York State Psychiatric Institute, Department of Biological Psychiatry, New York, New York a5 Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, California

Article author query keilp jg     corbera k     slavov i     taylor mj     sackeim ha     fallon ba

Abstract

There is controversy regarding the nature and degree of intellectual and memory deficits in chronic Lyme disease. In this study, 81 participants with rigorously diagnosed chronic Lyme disease were administered the newest revisions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III), and compared to 39 nonpatients. On the WAIS-III, Lyme disease participants had poorer Full Scale and Performance IQ's. At the subtest level, differences were restricted to Information and the Processing Speed subtests. On the WMS-III, Lyme disease participants performed more poorly on Auditory Immediate, Immediate, Auditory Delayed, Auditory Recognition Delayed, and General Memory indices. Among WMS-III subtests, however, differences were restricted to Logical Memory (immediate and delayed) and Family Pictures (delayed only), a Visual Memory subtest. Discriminant analyses suggest deficits in chronic Lyme are best characterized as a combination of memory difficulty and diminished processing speed. Deficits were modest, between one-third and two-thirds of a standard deviation, consistent with earlier studies. Depression severity had a weak relationship to processing speed, but little other association to test performance. Deficits in chronic Lyme disease are consistent with a subtle neuropathological process affecting multiple performance tasks, although further work is needed to definitively rule out nonspecific illness effects. (JINS, 2006, 12, 119–129.)