scholarly journals Correlation of frontal atrophy and CSF tau levels with neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with cognitive impairment: A memory clinic experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (S6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Cotta Ramusino ◽  
Giulia Perini ◽  
Gloria Vaghi ◽  
Beatrice Dal Fabbro ◽  
Marco Capelli ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Cotta Ramusino ◽  
Giulia Perini ◽  
Gloria Vaghi ◽  
Beatrice Dal Fabbro ◽  
Marco Capelli ◽  
...  

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a distressful condition. We aimed to investigate the BPSD distribution in subjects with cognitive impairment, and the potential correlations between BPSD and neurodegeneration in terms of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau and brain atrophy.Methods: One-hundred patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia (Alzheimer’s disease, AD; Lewy-body disease, LBD; frontotemporal dementia, FTD; vascular dementia, VD) underwent a complete diagnostic workup, including 3T-MRI and/or CT and CSF. Cortical atrophy was assessed with medial temporal atrophy (MTA), posterior atrophy (PA), and global cortical atrophy-frontal lobe (GCA-F) scales. BPSD were rated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), and BPSD clusters were defined according to the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium.Results: Delusions, hallucinations, and psychosis cluster were differently distributed among the diagnostic groups (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, and p < 0.05), with LBD patients showing higher scores for hallucinations (vs. MCI, p < 0.001, and AD, p < 0.05) and psychosis cluster (vs. MCI, p < 0.05). In primary dementias, we found a negative correlation between NPI total score and tau levels (p = 0.08), confirmed by beta regression (p < 0.01), while a positive non-significant relationship was observed in MCI. Higher GCA-F scores were associated with delusions and apathy (p < 0.05, on both hemispheres) and hallucinations (left: p < 0.01, right: p < 0.05). GCA-F scores were positively correlated with psychosis cluster (right: p < 0.05), and agitation/aggression (left: p < 0.05). Conversely, nighttime disturbances were positively correlated with both GCA-F and MTA scores (left: p < 0.01; right: p < 0.05).Conclusion: Our results suggest that psychotic symptoms are significantly more represented in LBD patients and that CSF tau and frontal atrophy are associated with the occurrence and severity of BPSD in clinical practice. Longitudinal studies are however required to ascertain their actual predictive value.


Author(s):  
Rónán O’Caoimh ◽  
Mareeta Calnan ◽  
Arup Dhar ◽  
D. William Molloy

Background: Although caregiver burden is common among carers of people with dementia, little is known about its prevalence and predictors among caregivers of patients attending memory clinics. Objective: To examine carer and patient-specific characteristics associated with caregiver burden across the cognitive spectrum in a memory clinic population. Methods: Consecutive patients referred to a university hospital geriatric memory clinic were included. Caregiver burden was scored using the Caregiver Burden Score (CBS), (modified Zarit), with scores≥15/30 suggesting burden. BPSD were measured with the dysfunctional behaviour rating instrument (DBRI). Cognition was screened using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Qmci) screen. Results: In all, 351 patients were included, median age 77 (±11) years; 65.5% were female. The prevalence of caregiver burden was 33.6% overall, increasing from 10.8% in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), to 15% in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 43% in dementia; CBS scores were significantly higher in dementia (p < 0.001). Caregivers with burden were significantly younger (p = 0.045) and were more likely to be adult children (p = 0.007). The CBS weakly correlated with the stage of cognitive impairment (r = 0.16) but had moderate correlation with MoCA (r = –0.54) and Qmci scores (r = –0.60). After adjustment for co-variates, DBRI scores alone independently predicted burden (odds ratio 1.23;1.11–1.35, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Caregiver burden is associated with the stage of cognitive impairment, with higher prevalence proportions in those with dementia compared with MCI and SCD. Only the severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms independently predicted caregiver burden in this population and its presence should prompt assessment for burden.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Roberto ◽  
Maria J. Portella ◽  
Marta Marquié ◽  
Montserrat Alegret ◽  
Isabel Hernández ◽  
...  

AbstractNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) have been recently addressed as risk factors of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementia types in patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Our aim was to determine profiles based on the prominent NPS in MCI patients and to explore the predictive value of these profiles on conversion to specific types of dementia. A total of 2137 MCI patients monitored in a memory clinic were included in the study. Four NPS profiles emerged (classes), which were defined by preeminent symptoms: Irritability, Apathy, Anxiety/Depression and Asymptomatic. Irritability and Apathy were predictors of conversion to dementia (HR = 1.43 and 1.56, respectively). Anxiety/depression class showed no risk effect of conversion when compared to Asymptomatic class. Irritability class appeared as the most discriminant neuropsychiatric condition to identify non-AD converters (i.e., frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy Bodies). The findings revealed that consistent subgroups of MCI patients could be identified among comorbid basal NPS. The preeminent NPS showed to behave differentially on conversion to dementia, beyond AD. Therefore, NPS should be used as early diagnosis facilitators, and should also guide clinicians to detect patients with different illness trajectories in the progression of MCI.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Sheikh ◽  
Zahinoor Ismail ◽  
Moyra E. Mortby ◽  
Philip Barber ◽  
Alicja Cieslak ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground:Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) describes later life acquired, sustained neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in cognitively normal individuals or those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as an at-risk state for incident cognitive decline and dementia. We developed an operational definition of MBI and tested whether the presence of MBI was related to caregiver burden in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or MCI assessed at a memory clinic.Methods:MBI was assessed in 282 consecutive memory clinic patients with SCD (n = 119) or MCI (n = 163) in accordance with the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment – Alzheimer's Association (ISTAART–AA) research diagnostic criteria. We operationalized a definition of MBI using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q). Caregiver burden was assessed using the Zarit caregiver burden scale. Generalized linear regression was used to model the effect of MBI domains on caregiver burden.Results:While MBI was more prevalent in MCI (85.3%) than in SCD (76.5%), this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06). Prevalence estimates across MBI domains were affective dysregulation (77.8%); impulse control (64.4%); decreased motivation (51.7%); social inappropriateness (27.8%); and abnormal perception or thought content (8.7%). Affective dysregulation (p = 0.03) and decreased motivation (p=0.01) were more prevalent in MCI than SCD patients. Caregiver burden was 3.35 times higher when MBI was present after controlling for age, education, sex, and MCI (p < 0.0001).Conclusions:MBI was common in memory clinic patients without dementia and was associated with greater caregiver burden. These data show that MBI is a common and clinically relevant syndrome.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Yosuke Yamada ◽  
Hiroyuki Umegaki ◽  
Fumie Kinoshita ◽  
Chi Hsien Huang ◽  
Taiki Sugimoto ◽  
...  

Background: Homocysteine is a common risk factor for cognitive impairment and sarcopenia. However, very few studies have shown an association between sarcopenia and serum homocysteine levels after adjustment for cognitive function. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between homocysteine and sarcopenia in memory clinic patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated outpatients in a memory clinic. We enrolled 1,774 participants (≥65 years old) with measured skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), hand grip strength (HGS), and homocysteine. All participants had undergone cognitive assessments and were diagnosed with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or normal cognition. Patient characteristics were compared according to sarcopenia presence, SMI level, or HGS. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association of homocysteine with sarcopenia, low SMI, or low HGS. Next, linear regression analysis was performed using HGS as a continuous variable. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that low HGS was significantly associated with homocysteine levels (p = 0.002), but sarcopenia and low SMI were not. In linear regression analysis, HGS was negatively associated with homocysteine levels after adjustment for Mini-Mental State Examination score (β= –2.790, p <  0.001) or clinical diagnosis of dementia (β= –3.145, p <  0.001). These results were similar for men and women. Conclusion: Our results showed a negative association between homocysteine and HGS after adjustment for cognitive function. Our findings strengthen the assumed association between homocysteine and HGS. Further research is needed to determine whether lower homocysteine levels lead to prevent muscle weakness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaojing Chen ◽  
Mingxi Dang ◽  
Zhanjun Zhang

AbstractNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and are associated with accelerated cognitive impairment and earlier deaths. This review aims to explore the neural pathogenesis of NPSs in AD and its association with the progression of AD. We first provide a literature overview on the onset times of NPSs. Different NPSs occur in different disease stages of AD, but most symptoms appear in the preclinical AD or mild cognitive impairment stage and develop progressively. Next, we describe symptom-general and -specific patterns of brain lesions. Generally, the anterior cingulate cortex is a commonly damaged region across all symptoms, and the prefrontal cortex, especially the orbitofrontal cortex, is also a critical region associated with most NPSs. In contrast, the anterior cingulate-subcortical circuit is specifically related to apathy in AD, the frontal-limbic circuit is related to depression, and the amygdala circuit is related to anxiety. Finally, we elucidate the associations between the NPSs and AD by combining the onset time with the neural basis of NPSs.


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