Egocentric spatial orientation differences between Alzheimer’s disease at early stages and mild cognitive impairment: a diagnostic aid

ABSTRACTBackground:Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III) is a screening test that was recently validated for diagnosing dementia. Since it assesses attention, language, memory, fluency, and visuospatial function separately, it may also be useful for general neuropsychological assessments. The aim of this study was to analyze the tool's ability to detect early stages of Alzheimer's disease and to examine the correlation between ACE-III scores and scores on standardized neuropsychological tests.Methods:Our study included 200 participants categorized as follows: 25 healthy controls, 48 individuals with subjective memory complaints, 47 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and 47 mild Alzheimer's disease, and 33 patients with other neurodegenerative diseases.Results:The ACE-III memory and language domains were highly correlated with the neuropsychological tests specific to those domains (Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.806 for total delayed recall on the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test vs. 0.744 on the Boston Naming Test). ACE-III scores discriminated between controls and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (AUC: 0.906), and between controls and patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AUC: 0.978).Conclusion:Our results suggest that ACE-III is a useful neuropsychological test for assessing the cognitive domains of attention, language, memory, and visuospatial function. It also enables detection of Alzheimer's disease in early stages.

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Cognitive and anatomical correlates of anosognosia in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer's disease

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610216001812 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 293-302 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Gulben Senturk ◽

Basar Bilgic ◽

Ali Bilgin Arslan ◽

Ali Bayram ◽

Hasmet Hanagasi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Early Stage ◽

Digit Span ◽

Early Stages ◽

Amci Group

ABSTRACTBackground:Anosognosia is a common feature in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The brain substrates of anosognosia are not fully understood, and less is known about the cognitive substrates of anosognosia in prodromal and early stages of AD.Methods:Fourty-seven patients with amnestic-type mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) (n = 26) and early-stage AD (n = 21) were included, and Clinical Insight Rating Scale and Anosognosia Questionnaire for Dementia (AQ-D) were used to assess anosognosia. A detailed neuropsychological battery was administered; each patient underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Correlation between anosognosia and performance in individual cognitive domains as well as correlation between anosognosia and cortical thickness values in regions of interest were assessed.Results:Performance of the anosognosic patients in Digit Ordering Test (DOT), Digit Span Backwards, and Clock Drawing Test (CDT) was significantly worse compared to non-anosognosic patients in the total study population and in the aMCI subgroup but not in AD group. AQ-D scores negatively correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Digit Span Backwards and CDT scores in total group and MMSE, CVLT, DOT, and Digit Span Backwards scores in the aMCI group. No significant correlations were found between cortical thickness measurements and AQ-D scores in any of the patient populations.Conclusions:Anosognosia was associated with episodic memory, working memory, and executive functions in the total population and aMCI group, but no association was found in early-stage AD patients. Anosognosia in the early stages of AD may be related with non-structural changes such as hypoconnectivity rather than structural changes.

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