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BACKGROUND: The mental status examination of an extreme case of longevity, J. C., aged 118 years and 9 months, is documented in order to further knowledge regarding profiles of morbidity in the extremely elderly. J. C. is presently considered to have the longest authenticated life-span in the history of the human species. METHOD: Neuropsychological tests were improvised taking into account the subject's severe perceptual deficits. The examination was carried out over a six-month period. A CT scan was also conducted. RESULTS: The subject's performance on tests of verbal memory and language fluency is comparable to that of persons with the same level of education in their eighties and nineties. Frontal lobe functions are relatively spared and there is no evidence of depressive symptomatology or other functional illness. Cognitive functioning was found to slightly improve over a six-month period. CONCLUSIONS: The subject shows no evidence of progressive neurological disease. A high initial level of intellectual ability may have constituted a protective factor.
Karen Ritchie (Wed,) studied this question.