Alzheimer’s disease can be accurately diagnosed in very mildly impaired individuals

Abstract

When comprehensive assessment procedures are employed, AD can be diagnosed with reasonably high accuracy in very mildly impaired individuals. However, the dementia evaluation should be repeated after approximately 1 year to ensure the accuracy of the initial diagnosis.

Relationship Between Self-reported Apathy and Executive Dysfunction in Nondemented Patients With Parkinson Disease

“…Differences among PD subgroups for the MDRS were not significant, although all 3 subgroups performed significantly worse than a group of demographically matched healthy individuals (M = 137.3, SD = 4.2). According to published criteria using the MDRS in classifying dementia using a highly educated Alzheimer disease cohort (cutoff <133; sensitivity = 0.96; specificity = 0.92), 34 Isella et al's 8 subgroup means (ie, 130.4, 130.8, and 127.3) were below this cutoff. In the current study, we used a more stringent exclusionary criterion for classification of dementia; with mean total MDRS subgroup scores considerably higher than the Isella et al's cutoff.…”

“…Laterality of motor symptoms was not considered in light of previous work that revealed nonsignificant differences between PD patients with either left-sided or right-sided motor symptoms on numerous measures of cognitive functioning. 32 Participants were excluded from the study if they (a) displayed impaired global intellectual functioning [total score on the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS)] 33 ; cutoff <133), 34 (b) had undergone a surgical procedure for the treatment of PD, (c) had a history of any other neurologic disorder and/or acquired brain injury, (d) presented with Parkinson-plus symptomatology (eg, myoclonus, apraxia, oculomotor abnormalities, ataxia, and/or sensory loss), (e) were on anticholinergic therapy (eg, trihexyphenidyl or benztropine), (f) were taking medications that could directly or indirectly impact cognitive functioning (eg, sedatives, anticonvulsants, and/or neuroleptics), (g) indicated prior history of polysubstance abuse, and/or (h) indicated prior history of psychiatric disorder (eg, depression) with or without medical treatment or hospitalization. Informed consent was obtained, and all procedures were approved by the institutional review board.…”

Progressive impairment on neuropsychological tasks in a longitudinal study of preclinical Alzheimer's disease.

“…The measures selected for examination in the present study are described below. They were selected because they are the measures from the domains of episodic memory, semantic knowledge, and executive functioning that are most sensitive to early AD in the University of California, San Diego ADRC test battery (see Salmon et al, 2002).…”

Verbal Fluency Deficits Co-Occur with Memory Deficits in Geriatric Patients at Risk for Dementia: Implications for the Concept of Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…Within a growing literature on states that fall between normal functioning and dementia, a debate has emerged regarding the true nature of MCI, progression rates, and eventual clinical status ( [4,6,11,12,15,16,18,23,27,30,32,42,43,46,49]). Petersen and his colleagues have accordingly refined their conception of MCI over the years to include four subtypes: Amnestic MCI Single Domain; Amnestic MCI Multiple Domain; Non-Amnestic MCI Single Domain; and NonAmnestic MCI-Multiple Domain [28,39].…”