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Visual memory tests enhance the identification of amnestic MCI cases at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2018

Javier Oltra-Cucarella Open the ORCID record for Javier Oltra-Cucarella [Opens in a new window] ,
Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo ,
Darren M. Lipnicki ,
John D. Crawford ,
Richard B. Lipton ,
Mindy J. Katz ,
Andrea R. Zammit ,
Nikolaos Scarmeas ,
Efthimios Dardiotis  and
Mary H. Kosmidis
...Show all authors
Javier Oltra-Cucarella*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain Unit of Cognitive Impairments and Movement Disorders, Hospital General Universitario Santa María del Rosell, Cartagena, Spain
Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Darren M. Lipnicki
Affiliation:
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
John D. Crawford
Affiliation:
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Richard B. Lipton
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
Mindy J. Katz
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
Andrea R. Zammit
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
Nikolaos Scarmeas
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Department of Medicine, 1st Neurology Clinic, Aeginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Efthimios Dardiotis
Affiliation:
Neurology Department, University Hospital of Larissa, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
Mary H. Kosmidis
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Antonio Guaita
Affiliation:
“Golgi Cenci” Foundation, Abbiategrasso, Italy
Roberta Vaccaro
Affiliation:
“Golgi Cenci” Foundation, Abbiategrasso, Italy
Ki Woong Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University, Gyeonggi-do, Korea Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Ji Won Han
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Nicole A. Kochan
Affiliation:
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Henry Brodaty
Affiliation:
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
José A. Pérez-Vicente
Affiliation:
Unit of Cognitive Impairments and Movement Disorders, Hospital General Universitario Santa María del Rosell, Cartagena, Spain
Luis Cabello-Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Unit of Cognitive Impairments and Movement Disorders, Hospital General Universitario Santa María del Rosell, Cartagena, Spain
Perminder S. Sachdev
Affiliation:
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Rosario Ferrer-Cascales*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC)
Affiliation:
Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain Unit of Cognitive Impairments and Movement Disorders, Hospital General Universitario Santa María del Rosell, Cartagena, Spain Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, NPI, Euroa Centre, UNSW Medicine, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA Department of Neurology, Medical Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Department of Medicine, 1st Neurology Clinic, Aeginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece Neurology Department, University Hospital of Larissa, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece “Golgi Cenci” Foundation, Abbiategrasso, Italy Department of Psychiatry, Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University, Gyeonggi-do, Korea Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Rosario Ferrer-Cascales, Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante 03690, Spain. Phone: +34 965 90 34 00 Ext. 9420. Email: rosario.ferrer@ua.es.
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Abstract

Objectives:

To investigate whether amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) identified with visual memory tests conveys an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (risk-AD) and if the risk-AD differs from that associated with aMCI based on verbal memory tests.

Participants:

4,771 participants aged 70.76 (SD = 6.74, 45.4% females) from five community-based studies, each a member of the international COSMIC consortium and from a different country, were classified as having normal cognition (NC) or one of visual, verbal, or combined (visual and verbal) aMCI using international criteria and followed for an average of 2.48 years. Hazard ratios (HR) and individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis analyzed the risk-AD with age, sex, education, single/multiple domain aMCI, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores as covariates.

Results:

All aMCI groups (n = 760) had a greater risk-AD than NC (n = 4,011; HR range = 3.66 – 9.25). The risk-AD was not different between visual (n = 208, 17 converters) and verbal aMCI (n = 449, 29 converters, HR = 1.70, 95%CI: 0.88, 3.27, p = 0.111). Combined aMCI (n = 103, 12 converters, HR = 2.34, 95%CI: 1.13, 4.84, p = 0.023) had a higher risk-AD than verbal aMCI. Age and MMSE scores were related to the risk-AD. The IPD meta-analyses replicated these results, though with slightly lower HR estimates (HR range = 3.68, 7.43) for aMCI vs. NC.

Conclusions:

Although verbal aMCI was most common, a significant proportion of participants had visual-only or combined visual and verbal aMCI. Compared with verbal aMCI, the risk-AD was the same for visual aMCI and higher for combined aMCI. Our results highlight the importance of including both verbal and visual memory tests in neuropsychological assessments to more reliably identify aMCI.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s diseasememorymild cognitive impairmentprogression

Information

Type
Original Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 31 , Issue 7: Issue Theme: Diverse Approaches to Stemming Cognitive Decline , July 2019 , pp. 997 - 1006
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2018 

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