The Differential Cognitive Deficits Between Patients with Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease and Patients with Early Stage Vascular Dementia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S175-S175 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.H. Park ◽  
K. Kyung Min ◽  
J. Byoung Sun

BackgroundThe study aims to examine whether cognitive deficits are different between patients with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) and patients with early stage vascular dementia (VaD) using the Korean version of the CERAD neuropsychological battery (CERAD-K-N).MethodsPatients with early stage dementia, global Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) 0.5 or 1 were consecutively recruited among first visitors to a dementia clinic, 257 AD patients and 90 VaD patients completed the protocol of the Korean version of the CERAD clinical assessment battery. CERAD-K-N was administered for the comprehensive evaluation of the neuropsychological function.ResultsOf the total 347 participants, 257 (69.1%) were AD group (CDR 0.5 = 66.9%) and 90 (21.9%) were VaD group (CDR 0.5 = 40.0%). Patients with very mild AD showed poorer performances in Boston naming test (BNT) (P = 0.028), word list memory test (P < 0.001), word list recall test (P < 0.001) and word list recognition test (WLRcT) (P = 0.006) than very mild VaD after adjustment of T score of MMSE-KC. However, the performance of trail making A (TMA) was more impaired in VaD group than in AD group. The performance of WLRcT (P < 0.001) was the worst among neuropsychological tests within AD group, whereas TMA was performed worst within VaD group.ConclusionsPatients with early-stage AD have more cognitive deficits on memory and language while patients with early-stage VaD show worse cognitive function on attention/processing speed. In addition, as the first cognitive deficit, memory dysfunction comes in AD and deficit in attention/processing speed in VaD.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

2018 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-149
Author(s):  
Carlos Henrique Ferreira Camargo ◽  
Augusto Bronzini ◽  
Eduardo de Souza Tolentino ◽  
Camila Medyk ◽  
Gustavo Leopold Schultz-Pereira

ABSTRACT The Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological battery was created to assess cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) but it is widely-used for various dementias. The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy of using the CERAD battery in the assessment of patients with Parkinson's disease. Forty-nine patients with Parkinson's disease were divided into two groups (one with dementia and one without) using the Movement Disorder Society criteria for Parkinson's disease dementia. Cognitive deficits were assessed with the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale as the gold standard, and the CERAD. The ROC curve for the CERAD battery had an area under the curve = 0.989 (95% CI = 0.967 – 1, p<0.0001). Among the CERAD subtests, verbal fluency had the worst accuracy, and word list learning had the best accuracy. Despite the limits of this study, the CERAD battery can be efficient for assessment of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease patients.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika J. Laukka ◽  
Stuart W.S. MacDonald ◽  
Laura Fratiglioni ◽  
Lars Bäckman

AbstractWe investigated differences between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) from the appearance of the first cognitive symptoms, focusing on both time of onset and rate of accelerated decline for different cognitive functions before dementia diagnosis. Data from a longitudinal population-based study were used, including 914 participants (mean age = 82.0 years, SD = 5.0) tested with a cognitive battery (word recall and recognition, Block Design, category fluency, clock reading) on up to four occasions spanning 10 years. We fit a series of linear mixed effects models with a change point to the cognitive data, contrasting each dementia group to a control group. Significant age-related decline was observed for all five cognitive tasks. Relative to time of diagnosis, the preclinical AD persons deviated from the normal aging curve earlier (up to 9 years) compared to the preclinical VaD persons (up to 6 years). However, once the preclinical VaD persons started to decline, they deteriorated at a faster rate than the preclinical AD persons. The results have important implications for identifying the two dementia disorders at an early stage and for selecting cognitive tasks to evaluate treatment effects for persons at risk of developing AD and VaD. (JINS, 2012, 18, 191–199)


Author(s):  
Hochang Ben Lee ◽  
John R. Lipsey

With an annual incidence of more than 600,000 cases, thromboembolic stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer (Kochanek et al., 2004). The number of stroke survivors has increased to 4.5 million adults nationally as the management of acute stroke continues to improve (AHA, 2002). Psychiatric syndromes are common complications of stroke and are associated with psychologic distress, increased impairment, poor rehabilitation outcomes, and excess morbidity. The purpose of this chapter is to describe clinically important poststroke psychiatric disorders and suggest appropriate treatment. Cognitive deficits are the most common psychiatric complication of stroke and affect nearly all stroke survivors. The type of cognitive disturbance depends on the location of the brain injury. Left hemisphere strokes frequently cause aphasia. Right hemisphere strokes cause substantial (but often underrecognized) cognitive impairments such as diminished insight, decreased attention, impaired spatial reasoning, and neglect syndromes. Furthermore, depending on the location of a stroke, other functions such as motivation, memory, judgment, and impulse control may also be affected. A large stroke or a series of small strokes affecting both hemispheres may lead to the global cognitive impairment of dementia. When a series of strokes is involved, the cognitive decline develops in a stepwise manner. This vascular dementia or multi-infarct dementia may be difficult to distinguish from Alzheimer’s disease. Autopsy studies of patients diagnosed with vascular dementia have often demonstrated the presence of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. As many as 25% of all dementia cases are attributable to a combined neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease and multiple infarcts (Massoud et al., 1999). In addition to strategies such as speech and language therapy, physical and occupational therapy, and cognitive rehabilitation, pharmacologic treatment may improve cognitive deficits in some stroke patients. The parallels between vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the evidence that reduced cholinergic function may play a role in both (Gottfries et al., 1994) have encouraged the use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (eg, donepezil) in vascular dementia. These drugs have shown modest benefits in such patients (Roman et al., 2005), and their use is described in Chapter 20.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Tiel ◽  
Felipe Kenji Sudo ◽  
Ana Beatriz Calmon

ABSTRACT Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in dementia are prevalent, under-recognized and little studied regarding their pathophysiological aspects. The pathophysiological mechanism, as well as the possible role of vascular lesions in the genesis of these symptoms, are still matters of debate. Objective: to describe and compare the prevalence and severity of NPS in subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD). Methods: a cross-sectional study involving 82 outpatients, divided into two groups (AD × VaD), was conducted. Patients were submitted to the Cambridge Cognitive Test (CAMCOG), the Clock Drawing Test (CLOX 1 and 2), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale. Neuroimaging was scored using the de Leon and Fazekas scales. Results: 90.8% of the patients had at least one neuropsychiatric symptom. There were statistical differences on the CLOX test and in the apathy symptoms between AD and VaD groups. Apathy and disinhibition proved more prevalent in patients with higher vascular load. Conclusion: apathy and impaired executive function may reflect vascular damage in subcortical circuits in dementia patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-207
Author(s):  
Natalia Gawron ◽  
Emilia Łojek ◽  
Beata Hintze ◽  
Anna Rita Egbert

Individuals in the early stages of dementia may demonstrate language difficulties. The aim of the study was an evaluation of the differences in narrative discourse abilities across two types of dementia, i.e., Vascular Dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in comparison to the young and old elderly. The AD and VaD groups displayed a lower performance than the age-matched YE on tasks involving reasoning. The VaD partici- pants outperformed patients with AD in verbal memory and narrative discourse. Discourse macrostructure analyses showed that the VaD reproduced more propositions than did the AD participants, but that these were comparable to YE and OE. There were more conjunctions in narratives reproduced by the VaD participants as compared to other groups, although this tendency was only present in the story but not in fairy tale reproductions themselves. Individ- uals in the AD group had more difficulties than YE and OE individuals in figuring out the moral of fairy tales. Clinical and control groups reproduced the microstructure and superstructure of texts comparatively well. Discourse recall correlated with performance on verbal memory, attention/working memory, and reasoning. Differences in narrative discourse abilities were found. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients scored lower in verbal memory than did Vascular Dementia (VaD) patients. Both groups however obtained lower results than the young and old elderly.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e036990 ◽  
Author(s):  
MengFei He ◽  
Li Sun ◽  
Wenhui Cao ◽  
Changhao Yin ◽  
Wenqiang Sun ◽  
...  

IntroductionNeurogranin is known to be significantly elevated in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may be an effective clinical predictor of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is an intermediate disease state between normal cognitive ageing and dementia, the latter of which can easily revert to AD. There remains significant uncertainty regarding the conversion of aMCI to AD, and therefore, elucidating such progression is paramount to the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this protocol study, we therefore aim to investigate the changes in plasma neurogranin in the early stage of AD and the mechanism thereof regarding the cognitive progression towards AD.Methods and analysisIn this study, patients with aMCI and AD patients (n=70 each) will be recruited at the memory clinic of the Department of Neurology of Hongqi Hospital affiliated with the Mudanjiang Medical University of China. Healthy older controls (n=70) will also be recruited from the community. All subjects will undergo neuroimaging and neuropsychological evaluations in addition to blood collection at the first year and the third year. We hope to identify a new biomarker of cognitive decline associated with AD and characterise its behaviour throughout the progression of aMCI to AD. This work will reveal novel targets for the therapeutic prevention, diagnosis and treatment of AD. The primary outcome measures will be (1) neuropsychological evaluation, including Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Clinical Dementia Rating scale, Shape Trail Test-A&B, Auditory Verbal Learning Test-HuaShan version; (2) microstructural alterations and hippocampal features from MRI scans; and (3) neurogranin levels in the neuronal-derived exosomes from peripheral blood samples.Ethics and disseminationThe ethics committee of the Hongqi Hospital affiliated with the Mudanjiang Medical University of China has approved this study protocol. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national or international scientific conferences.Trial registration numberChiCTR2000029055.


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