The comparison of cognitive estimation in patients with major depressive disorder, patients with Alzheimer's disease and normal individuals

Estimation abilities are used in everyday life to solve problems for which the answers are not readily available. The goal of this study was to assess cognitive estimation in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD)، patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and normal individuals. Method and Materials: In this study we used convenience sampling method. Diagnostic and inclusion criteria were determined. The subjects were assigned to three groups including patients with major depressive disorder (MDD)، patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and normal individuals (n=25). We assessed the subjects by Cognitive Estimation Test (CET). Data was analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Our results showed that both patient groups had impaired cognitive estimation in all dimensions and higher total scores in comparison to normal individuals. Alzheimer patients showed a high performance impairment in all cognitive estimation dimensions and had higher total scores compared to the patients with major depressive disorder. The findings of this study supported impairments in general knowledge and other executive functions in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).