Associations between neuropsychiatric symptoms and incident Alzheimer’s dementia in men versus women

Abstract

Objective To examine whether associations between individual neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and incident Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) differ in men versus women. Methods Data were acquired from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set. Two sets of older (≥ 60 years) participants were formed: one of cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals, and one of participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). NPS were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models examined associations between individual NPS and AD incidence separately for each participant set. These models featured individual NPS, sex, NPS by sex interactions as well as a number of covariates. Results The analysis involved 9,854 CU individuals followed for 5.5 ± 3.8 years and 6,369 participants with MCI followed for 3.8 ± 3.0 years. NPS were comparably associated with future AD in men and women with MCI. Regarding CU participants, the following significant sex by NPS interactions were noted: female sex moderated the risk conferred by moderate/severe apathy (HR = 7.36, 3.25–16.64) by 74%, mitigated the risk conferred by moderate/severe depression (HR = 3.61, 2.08–6.28) by 52%, and augmented the risks conferred by mild depression (HR = 1.00, 0.60–1.68) and agitation (HR = 0.81, 0.40–1.64) by 83% and 243%, respectively. Conclusions Apathy, depression and agitation were differentially associated with incident AD in CU men and women. No individual NPS was associated with different risks of future AD in men versus women with MCI.

The Contribution of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to the Study of Neurodegenerative Disorders: A Narrative Review

“…Considering the impact of neurodegenerative disorders, it is necessary to develop widely accessible and easily operated tools to overcome early diagnostic challenges [ 93 , 94 , 95 ]. Thanks to its user-friendly nature and compatibility with other functional neuroimaging techniques, fNIRS holds great potential for the diagnostic assessment of early neurocognitive and motor decline.…”

Language and Communication Interventions in People with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review

“…The yearly worldwide cost of dementia is estimated at $1.3 trillion [47]. Thus, accurate and prompt intervention is of utmost importance [48,49].…”

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and incident Lewy body dementia in male versus female older adults with mild cognitive impairment

“…Hence, clinical manifestations have been long used as preclinical markers of AD and non–AD dementias 6–8 . Alzheimer research has already revealed sex‐specific patterns in the preclinical courses of cognitive and neuropsychiatric manifestations 9,10 . To enhance the utility of NPS as forerunners of LBD, we explored sex‐specific patterns in the preclinical course of LBD.…”

“…[6][7][8] Alzheimer research has already revealed sex-specific patterns in the preclinical courses of cognitive and neuropsychiatric manifestations. 9,10 To enhance the utility of NPS as forerunners of LBD, we explored sex-specific patterns in the preclinical course of LBD. Future research must confirm our findings and examine additional prodromal clinical markers in search of an optimized predictive model that will serve preclinical detection purposes for individuals at high risk of converting to LBD.…”