Prevalence and Severity of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Early- Versus Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background: The study aimed to compare neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD). Methods: Fifty-six participants with LOAD and 24 participants with EOAD having mild dementia were assessed for NPS for their frequency, severity, and caregiver distress as measured by Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI) along with assessments of cognition and functional dependence. Results: Participants with EOAD and LOAD were not significantly different for total NPI score ( P = .057). Early-onset Alzheimer disease had greater prevalence of all the NPS except apathy. Participants with EOAD were significantly worse on anxiety ( P = .03), irritability ( P = .01), and sleep ( P < .01) subscales and their carers significantly more distressed by their irritability ( P = .002) and sleeping patterns ( P = .005). Regression analysis showed that higher NPI score was associated with longer duration of illness in EOAD and higher functional dependence in LOAD. Conclusions: The NPS severity was similar between EOAD and LOAD although EOAD had higher symptom prevalence and carer distress.

Comorbidity between Alzheimer’s disease and major depression: a behavioural and transcriptomic characterization study in mice

“…In fact, current research of this pathophysiology is critical to detect incipient symptomatology of AD patients (Table 1), playing a crucial role to identify preclinical individuals. Notably, patients in prodromal phases of AD show memory impairments [59,62], depression [6,54,55], anxiety [55] and reduction of olfaction function [61], as we observed in APP/PSEN1-Tg mice at 3 and 6 months of age. Although we could not forget the presence of other biomarkers that are more frequently observed in early onset of AD in humans, such as irritability [55,56] and apathy/indifference [56], they are not easily measurable in rodent models.…”

Pharmacogenomics of Cognitive Dysfunction and Neuropsychiatric Disorders in Dementia

“…SCD cases show decreased total cortical volumes and cortical surface area, which are especially prominent in APOE-4 carriers. Anxiety symptoms are negatively associated with the right cortical surface area in APOE-4 noncarriers with SCD [242]. Depression, anxiety, and cerebrovascular risk contribute to SCD [243].…”

Deepen into sleep and wake patterns across Alzheimer's disease phenotypes

“…The evidence of a faster cognitive and behavioral decline in atypical variants of AD led to a belief that sleep disturbances are more common in early‐onset AD (EOAD) mainly because EOAD is enriched with atypical forms. Consequently, many studies have attempted to evaluate the differences in subjective sleep disturbances between early/late onset presentations (Table 1) or amnestic/non‐amnestic variants 19,20,24 . Although in general advancing our understanding, these studies show discordant results, which might be explained by several methodological limitations.…”