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Velandy Manohar, MD
Middlesex Memorial Hospital Middletown, Conn

JAMA. 1981;245(11):1119-1120.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The article entitled "Senility Reconsidered: Treatment Possibilities for Mental Impairment in the Elderly" by the Task Force sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (1980;244:259) is informative and helpful. There are, however, inaccuracies that have crept into it, especially in the table entitled "Reversible Causes of Mental Impairment" on p 261. The first one is Cushing's syndrome, which is denoted as a cause of dementia. In fact, Cushing's syndrome produces acute psychosis and confusional states more frequently when drug induced. Cushing's disease, itself, produces an organic brain syndrome or depression-like syndrome with about 10% making suicidal attempts.¹

Second, traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage is known to cause an acute organic brain syndrome (OBS), and during the recovery phase, varying degrees of neurological and intellectual impairment.^{2(p1065-1078)} Therefore, it should be denoted as a cause of both dementia and delirium. Epidural hematoma can cause both acute OBS and dementia. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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