Neuropsychological Predictors of Severe Functional Dependency in a Multiethnic Community Cohort of Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Jasmine Cárcamo ◽  
Anton J. Kociolek ◽  
Kayri K. Fernández ◽  
Yian Gu ◽  
Carolyn W. Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Predictive Value ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Institutional Care ◽  
Functional Dependency ◽  
Cox Models ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazard Models

To assess the predictive value of neuropsychological tests for severe dependency in Alzheimer’s disease as defined by the Equivalent Institutional Care Rating Scale, in a multiethnic, community cohort. The sample included 146 elders from the Predictors 3 cohort. Cox proportional hazard models tested the predictive value of each neuropsychological test at baseline on relative risk of meeting severe dependency. Higher semantic Processing and Memory test scores at baseline were associated with lower risk of meeting severe dependency in the adjusted Cox models. The integrity of semantic processing and memory abilities in dementia appears to predict time to severe functional dependency.

scholarly journals Alexithymia in Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Eva Mª Arroyo-Anlló ◽  
Corinne Souchaud ◽  
Pierre Ingrand ◽  
Jorge Chamorro Sánchez ◽  
Alejandra Melero Ventola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mood State ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Control

Alexithymia is widely recognized as the inability to identify and express emotions. It is a construct which consists of four cognitive traits such as difficulty in identifying feelings, describing feelings to others, externally oriented thinking, and limited imaginative capacity. Several studies have linked alexithymia to cognitive functioning, observing greater alexithymia scores associated with poorer cognitive abilities. Despite Alzheimer’s disease (AD) being a neurodegenerative pathology characterized by cognitive troubles from the early stages, associated to behavioral and emotional disturbances, very few investigations have studied the alexithymia in AD. These studies have shown that alexithymia scores—assessed with Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS)—were greater in AD patients than healthy participants. The objective of the study was to investigate if the alexithymia was present in patients with mild AD. We hypothesized that the AD group would show more alexithymia features than the control group. We evaluated 54 subjects, including 27 patients diagnosed with mild AD and 27 normal healthy controls, using the Shalling Sifneos Psychosomatic Scale (SSPS-R) and a neuropsychological test battery. Using non-parametric statistical analyses—Wilcoxon and Mann–Whitney U tests—we observed that the SSPS-R scores were similar in the AD and control groups. All participants showed SSPS-R scores below to 10 points, which means no-alexithymia. We did not find significant correlations between SSPS-R scores and cognitive variables in both groups (p > 0.22), but we observed a negative association between name abilities and alexithymia, but it does not reach to significance (p = 0.07). However, a significant correlation between SSPS-R score and mood state, assessed using Zerssen Rating Scale, was found in both groups (p = 0.01). Because we did not find a significant difference in the alexithymia assessment between both subject groups, pot hoc analyses were computed for each item of the SSPS-R. We made comparisons of alexithymic responses percentages in each SSPS-R item between AD and control groups, using Fisher’s test. We observed that AD patients produced more alexithymic responses in some items of SSPS-R test than the control group, particularly about difficulties to find the words to describe feelings, as well as difficulties of imagination capacity and externally oriented thinking. The present results do not confirm our hypothesis and they do not support the results of previous studies revealing great alexithymia in AD.

Are Deficits in Social Cognition Linked to Autobiographical Memory in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease?

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes H. Scheidemann ◽  
Franz Petermann ◽  
Marc Schipper
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Neuropsychological Test Battery ◽  
Fluency Task

Abstract. We investigated theory of mind (ToM) deficits in Alzheimer‘s disease (AD) and its possible connection to autobiographical memory (ABM). Patients and matched controls were evaluated and compared using a video-based ToM test, an autobiographical fluency task, and a neuropsychological test battery. We found that ToM deficits were positively associated with semantic ABM in the clinical group, whereas a positive relationship appeared between ToM and episodic ABM in controls. We hypothesize that this reflects the course of the disease as well as that semantic ABM is used for ToM processing, being still accessible in AD. Furthermore, we assume that it is also less efficient, which in turn leads to a specific deficit profile of social cognition.

scholarly journals Anhedonia in Semantic Dementia—Exploring Right Hemispheric Contributions to the Loss of Pleasure

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 998
Author(s):  
Siobhán R. Shaw ◽  
Hashim El-Omar ◽  
Siddharth Ramanan ◽  
Olivier Piguet ◽  
Rebekah M. Ahmed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Dementia ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Functional Impairments ◽  
Lobe Atrophy

Semantic dementia (SD) is a younger-onset neurodegenerative disease characterised by progressive deterioration of the semantic knowledge base in the context of predominantly left-lateralised anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy. Mounting evidence indicates the emergence of florid socioemotional changes in SD as atrophy encroaches into right temporal regions. How lateralisation of temporal lobe pathology impacts the hedonic experience in SD remains largely unknown yet has important implications for understanding socioemotional and functional impairments in this syndrome. Here, we explored how lateralisation of temporal lobe atrophy impacts anhedonia severity on the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale in 28 SD patients presenting with variable right- (SD-R) and left-predominant (SD-L) profiles of temporal lobe atrophy compared to that of 30 participants with Alzheimer’s disease and 30 healthy older Control participants. Relative to Controls, SD-R but not SD-L or Alzheimer’s patients showed clinically significant anhedonia, representing a clear departure from premorbid levels. Overall, anhedonia was more strongly associated with functional impairment on the Frontotemporal Dementia Functional Rating Scale and motivational changes on the Cambridge Behavioural Inventory in SD than in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed that anhedonia severity correlated with reduced grey matter intensity in a restricted set of regions centred on right orbitofrontal and temporopolar cortices, bilateral posterior temporal cortices, as well as the anterior cingulate gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus, bilaterally. Finally, regression and mediation analysis indicated a unique role for right temporal lobe structures in modulating anhedonia in SD. Our findings suggest that degeneration of predominantly right-hemisphere structures deleteriously impacts the capacity to experience pleasure in SD. These findings offer important insights into hemispheric lateralisation of motivational disturbances in dementia and suggest that anhedonia may emerge at different timescales in the SD disease trajectory depending on the integrity of the right hemisphere.

scholarly journals Coronary Revascularization and Postoperative Outcomes in People With and Without Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Vu ◽  
Marjaana Koponen ◽  
Heidi Taipale ◽  
Raimo Kettunen ◽  
Sirpa Hartikainen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Coronary Revascularization ◽  
Admission Rate ◽  
Postoperative Outcomes ◽  
Hospital District ◽  
Emergency Procedures ◽  
Risk Increase ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazard Models ◽  
Matched Comparison

Abstract Background Little is known on the incidence and postoperative outcomes of revascularizations according to electivity in persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods The Medication Use and Alzheimer’s disease (MEDALZ) cohort includes 70 718 community dwellers diagnosed with incident AD during 2005–2011 in Finland. For each person with AD, 1–4 age-, sex-, and hospital district-matched comparison persons without AD were identified. Altogether 448 persons with AD and 5909 without AD underwent revascularization during the follow-up. The outcomes were 30-day and 90-day re-admission rate after discharge, and all-cause 1-year and 3-year mortality. Risk of outcomes in persons with AD were compared to those without AD using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted with age, sex, comorbidities, statin use, revascularization type, length of stay, and support at discharge. Result People with AD had less revascularizations (adjusted hazard ratio 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.22–0.27). Emergency procedures were more common (42.6% vs 33.1%) than elective procedures (34.2% vs 48.6%) among people with AD. There was no difference in 30-day readmissions (0.97, 0.80–1.17) or 1-year mortality (1.04, 0.75–1.42) and 90 days readmission risk was lower in persons with AD (0.85, 0.74–0.98). People with AD had higher 3-year mortality (1.42, 1.15–1.74), but the risk increase was observed only for emergency (1.71, 1.27–2.31), not for elective procedures (0.96, 0.63–1.46). Conclusion People with AD did not have worse readmission and mortality outcomes following elective revascularization. These findings in conjunction with lower revascularization rate especially for elective procedures raise questions on the threshold for elective procedures in people with AD.

scholarly journals Genetic Predisposition to Alzheimer’s Disease Is Associated with Enlargement of Perivascular Spaces in Centrum Semiovale Region

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 825
Author(s):  
Iacopo Ciampa ◽  
Grégory Operto ◽  
Carles Falcon ◽  
Carolina Minguillon ◽  
Manuel Castro de Moura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Genetic Predisposition ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
P Value ◽  
Perivascular Spaces ◽  
Centrum Semiovale ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Visual Rating ◽  
Increased Risk

This study investigated whether genetic factors involved in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are associated with enlargement of Perivascular Spaces (ePVS) in the brain. A total of 680 participants with T2-weighted MRI scans and genetic information were acquired from the ALFA study. ePVS in the basal ganglia (BG) and the centrum semiovale (CS) were assessed based on a validated visual rating scale. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression models to investigate associations between ePVS in BG and CS with BIN1-rs744373, as well as APOE genotypes. We found a significant association of the BIN1-rs744373 polymorphism in the CS subscale (p value = 0.019; OR = 2.564), suggesting that G allele carriers have an increased risk of ePVS in comparison with A allele carriers. In stratified analysis by APOE-ε4 status (carriers vs. non-carriers), these results remained significant only for ε4 carriers (p value = 0.011; OR = 1.429). To our knowledge, the present study is the first suggesting that genetic predisposition for AD is associated with ePVS in CS. These findings provide evidence that underlying biological processes affecting AD may influence CS-ePVS.

scholarly journals Caretaker Obstreperous Behavior Rating Scale

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (S3) ◽  
pp. 321-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. Swearer ◽  
David A. Drachman
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Senile Dementia ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Original Description ◽  
Behavior Rating Scale ◽  
Large Patient ◽  
Number Of Patients

Although Alzheimer's original description of the dementing disorder that bears his name emphasized the prominence of troublesome and disruptive behaviors, a systematic investigation of behavioral disturbances of dementia did not begin in earnest until the 1980s. At that time, as the neuropathologic identity of presenile Alzheimer's disease and late-onset “senile dementia” was recognized, the redefinition of Alzheimer's disease abruptly increased the number of patients diagnosed with this condition. Physicians and other medical personnel working with Alzheimer's disease patients recognized both the importance of abnormal behaviors in this now large patient population and the need to describe, classify, and quantify these behaviors.

Semantic processing in connected speech at a uniformly early stage of autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer's disease.

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samrah Ahmed ◽  
Celeste A. de Jager ◽  
Anne-Marie Haigh ◽  
Peter Garrard
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Connected Speech

scholarly journals Progress Report on the Canadian Multicentre Trial of Tetrahydroaminoacridine with Lecithin in Alzheimer's Disease

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (S4) ◽  
pp. 543-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gauthier ◽  
R. Bouchard ◽  
Y. Bacher ◽  
P. Bailey ◽  
H. Bergman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Fixed Dose ◽  
Symptomatic Therapy ◽  
Muscarinic Agonists ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Disability Rating Scale ◽  
Functional Autonomy ◽  
Disability Rating

ABSTRACT:Since the discovery of a significant depletion of acetylcholine in discrete areas of the brain of patients affected by Alzheimer's disease, attempts at symptomatic therapy have concentrated on acetylcholine supplementation, an approach that is based upon the efficacy of dopaminergic supplementation therapy for Parkinson's disease. Choline, then lecithin, used orally, failed to improve symptoms but the hypothesis that long-term choline supplementation might stabilize the course of Alzheimer's disease remains to be tested. Nerve growth factor may also offer that possibility. Bethanechol administered intracerebroventricularly did not help when a fixed dose was used but individual titration of more selective muscarinic agonists may prove more effective. In this article we report that tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA), given together with highly concentrated lecithin, appears to bring improvement in cognition and in functional autonomy using the Mini Mental State and the Rapid Disability Rating Scale-2 respectively, without change in behavior as reflected by the Behave-AD. Double-blind cross-over studies are in progress to establish its efficacy. Improvement in study design and means of assessment of cognition, functional autonomy and behavior have been made possible by these drug trials.

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