Functional, Global and Cognitive Decline Correlates to Accumulation of Alzheimer's Pathology in MCI and AD

Overview

Journal Curr Alzheimer Res

Publisher Bentham Science Publishers

Specialty Neurology

Date 2009 Sep 1

PMID 19715548

Citations 37

Authors

M N Sabbagh

K Cooper

J DeLange

J D Stoehr

K Thind

T Lahti

B Reisberg

L Sue

L Vedders

S R Fleming

T G Beach

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Cognitive, global and functional instruments have been extensively investigated for correlations with neuropathological changes such as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), plaques, and synapse loss in the brain.

Objective: Our objective is to correlate the functional, global and cognitive decline assessed clinically with the neuropathological changes observed in a large prospectively characterized cohort of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: We examined 150 subjects (16 MCI and 134 AD) that were prospectively assessed and longitudinally followed to autopsy. MCI subjects clinically met Petersen criteria for single or multi-domain amnestic MCI. AD subjects clinically met NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable or possible AD. All subjects received the Functional Assessment Staging (FAST), the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) ante-mortem. Plaque and tangle counts were gathered for hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, frontal, temporal and parietal cortices. Braak staging was performed as well.

Results: The GDS, FAST and MMSE correlated with plaque counts in all regions. The GDS, FAST and MMSE correlated with tangle counts in in all regions. The three instruments also correlated with the Braak score. The MMSE and GDS correlate better than the FAST in most regions.

Conclusions: Accumulation of neuropathology appears to correlate with functional, global, and cognitive decline as people progress from MCI through AD.

Citing Articles

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Predicting functional decline in aging and Alzheimer's disease with PET-based Braak staging.

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Qiao Z, Wang G, Zhao X, Wang K, Fan D, Chen Q Front Aging Neurosci. 2022; 14:841942.

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Alzheimer's Disease Progressively Reduces Visual Functional Network Connectivity.

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