Neuropsychological Contributions to the Early Identification of Alzheimer’s Disease

Bondi, Mark W.; Jak, Amy J.; Delano‐Wood, Lisa; Jacobson, Mark W.; Delis, Dean C.; Salmon, David P.

doi:10.1007/s11065-008-9054-1

Cited by 181 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 180 publications

(210 reference statements)

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“…Studies show that the risk of dementia of the Alzheimer's type increases dramatically in individuals between the ages of 65 and 85 (Bondi et al 2008), notably a similar range in which we report age-related sequence memory impairments. There is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of the disease may continue to increase into the ninth decade of life (Jorm and Jolley 1998;von Strauss et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging

et al. 2015

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Typical aging is associated with diminished episodic memory performance. To improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying this age-related memory deficit, we previously developed an integrated, cross-species approach to link converging evidence from human and animal research. This novel approach focuses on the ability to remember sequences of events, an important feature of episodic memory. Unlike existing paradigms, this task is nonspatial, nonverbal, and can be used to isolate different cognitive processes that may be differentially affected in aging. Here, we used this task to make a comprehensive comparison of sequence memory performance between younger (18-22 yr) and older adults (62 -86 yr). Specifically, participants viewed repeated sequences of six colored, fractal images and indicated whether each item was presented "in sequence" or "out of sequence." Several out of sequence probe trials were used to provide a detailed assessment of sequence memory, including: (i) repeating an item from earlier in the sequence ("Repeats"; e.g., ABADEF), (ii) skipping ahead in the sequence ("Skips"; e.g., ABDDEF), and (iii) inserting an item from a different sequence into the same ordinal position ("Ordinal Transfers"; e.g., AB3DEF). We found that older adults performed as well as younger controls when tested on well-known and predictable sequences, but were severely impaired when tested using novel sequences. Importantly, overall sequence memory performance in older adults steadily declined with age, a decline not detected with other measures (RAVLT or BPS-O). We further characterized this deficit by showing that performance of older adults was severely impaired on specific probe trials that required detailed knowledge of the sequence (Skips and Ordinal Transfers), and was associated with a shift in their underlying mnemonic representation of the sequences. Collectively, these findings provide unambiguous evidence that the capacity to remember sequences of events is fundamentally affected by typical aging.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Memory for sequences of events impaired in typical aging

et al. 2015

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“…However, it has been shown that impairment in the level of episodic memory may especially characterize prodromal states of Alzheimer's disease (AD), 40 and it may be effective in identifying those with a family history of AD. 44 Moreover, a neurocognitive profile characterized by pronounced deficits in executive functioning along with poor episodic memory (eg, recognition memory impairment) is typical in patients with early-onset AD. Furthermore, visual reproduction may be sensitive in detecting early AD.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…42 Higher educational attainment has been shown to be related to later onset of AD 44 and to modify the association between AD-related neuropathology and neurocognitive functioning. 47 The finding that late preterm birth was not associated with performance on the CERAD-NB among those who had attained tertiary levels of education may indicate that their higher neurocognitive reserve mitigates the aging-related neurocognitive impairment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Preterm Birth and Neurocognitive Performance in Late Adulthood: A Birth Cohort Study

et al. 2015

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OBJECTIVES: We studied if late preterm birth (34 weeks 0 days-36 weeks 6 days of gestation) is associated with performance on the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Neuropsychological Battery (CERAD-NB) in late adulthood and if maximum attained lifetime education moderated these associations.METHODS: Participants were 919 Finnish men and women born between 1934 and 1944, who participated in the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. They underwent the CERAD-NB at a mean age of 68.1 years. Data regarding gestational age (late preterm versus term) were extracted from hospital birth records, and educational attainment data were gathered from Statistics Finland.RESULTS: After adjustment for major confounders, those born late preterm scored lower on word list recognition (mean difference: -0.33 SD; P = .03) than those born at term. Among those who had attained a basic or upper secondary education, late preterm birth was associated with lower scores on word list recognition, constructional praxis, constructional praxis recall, clock drawing, Mini-Mental State Examination, and memory total and CERAD total 2 compound scores (mean differences: .0.40 SD; P values ,.05), and had a 2.70 times higher risk of mild cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination score: ,26 points) (P = .02). Among those with tertiary levels of education, late preterm birth was not associated with CERAD-NB scores.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings offer new insight into the lifelong consequences of late preterm birth, and they add late preterm birth as a novel risk factor to the list of neurocognitive impairment in late adulthood. Our findings also suggest that attained lifetime education may mitigate aging-related neurocognitive impairment, especially among those born late preterm. WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT:More than 70% of all preterm deliveries are late preterm (34-36 weeks of gestation). Existing evidence suggests that compared with those born at term, those born late preterm score lower on neurocognitive tests in childhood and young adulthood. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:The effect of late preterm birth on neurocognitive performance persists up to late adulthood, especially among those who have only a basic or upper secondary level of education. Late preterm birth is also associated with a risk of memory impairments.

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“…Previous studies have already highlighted that specific neuropsychological domains, such as episodic memory, executive function, language and attention, are particularly vulnerable to AD (Bondi et al, 2008), and that some of these domains can be positively affected by cognitive intervention (Cavallo et al, 2013a;Huntley et al, 2015), even if to date evidence in this direction is still growing. To the best of our knowledge, our study is one of the first showing at a large scale a clear and stable pattern of improved neuropsychological performances in AD patients due to the cognitive training implemented.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%