The Impact of Time of Day on Cognitive Function in Patients With Dementia

In the article, Cognitive Status Changes Based on Time of Day In Nursing Home Patients With and Without Dementia, disruptions of the circadian rhythm and its effects on cognition are explored in patients with and without dementia. The study results indicated that the effects of time-of-day on administration of Mini-Mental State Examinations in nursing home patients with dementia was such that men and women perform equally in the morning, while women performed marginally worse in the afternoon. These results were especially pronounced for areas of orientation and immediate recall. On the contrary, men performed significantly better in the afternoon than they did in the morning. However, given the small number of study participants (38), the results are not significant enough to recommend any change in time of day assessments for patients with dementia.