Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra (Nov 2013)

CERAD Neuropsychological Total Scores Reflect Cortical Thinning in Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease

  • T. Paajanen,
  • T. Hänninen,
  • A. Aitken,
  • M. Hallikainen,
  • E. Westman,
  • L.-O. Wahlund,
  • T. Sobow,
  • P. Mecocci,
  • M. Tsolaki,
  • B. Vellas,
  • S. Muehlboeck,
  • C. Spenger,
  • S. Lovestone,
  • A. Simmons,
  • H. Soininen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1159/000356725
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
pp. 446 – 458

Abstract

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Background: Sensitive cognitive global scores are beneficial in screening and monitoring for prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). Early cortical changes provide a novel opportunity for validating established cognitive total scores against the biological disease markers. Methods: We examined how two different total scores of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) battery and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) are associated with cortical thickness (CTH) in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and prodromal AD. Cognitive and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of 22 progressive MCI, 78 stable MCI, and 98 control subjects, and MRI data of 103 AD patients of the prospective multicenter study were analyzed. Results: CERAD total scores correlated with mean CTH more strongly (r = 0.34-0.38, p Conclusion: CERAD total scores are sensitive to the CTH signature of prodromal AD, which supports their biological validity in detecting early disease-related cognitive changes.

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