Investigation of skin conductance level in dementia

Today world faces the crisis of aging population. Dementia can be considered as one of the most important diseases of elderly .psychophysiological researches about dementia can attract our attentions us to more objective findings. Changes in baseline skin conductance in patients suffering from Schizophrenia were revealed in previous studies. Regarding common neurodegenerative base between Dementia and Schizophrenia, such skin conductance changes may also be seen in patients with Dementia and there are few researches about this. The purpose of this study is to compare the level of electrical conductivity of the skin conductance level (SCL) between elderlies with dementia and those without dementia.
A case control study was conducted in the care center of elderlies, after examination and using CDR, 34 patients with dementia and 34 non-demented were selected and the later considered as control group. The baseline skin conductance of these two groups was measured by Skin conductance measurement channel of biofeedback device and values of baseline skin conductance were compared between groups using t test.
Members of the groups had similar personal characteristics. Comparison of baseline skin conductance showed 0.260±0.251 µs in patients with dementia and 0.600±0.425 µs in non-demented that there is significant (p Baseline skin conductance level in patients with dementia is significantly less than that in control group. Investigation of SCL in different dementia subtype will help use a better understanding of brain function.