A NOVEL STEPPING TEST AS A SCREENING TOOL FOR MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN OLDER ADULTS

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (Suppl_2) ◽  
pp. 185-186
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
Valarie B. Fleming ◽  
Joyce L. Harris

Across the breadth of acquired neurogenic communication disorders, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may go undetected, underreported, and untreated. In addition to stigma and distrust of healthcare systems, other barriers contribute to decreased identification, healthcare access, and service utilization for Hispanic and African American adults with MCI. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have significant roles in prevention, education, management, and support of older adults, the population must susceptible to MCI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 292-293
Author(s):  
Lydia Nguyen ◽  
Shraddha Shende ◽  
Daniel Llano ◽  
Raksha Mudar

Abstract Value-directed strategic processing is important for daily functioning. It allows selective processing of important information and inhibition of irrelevant information. This ability is relatively preserved in normal cognitive aging, but it is unclear if mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects strategic processing and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. The current study examined behavioral and EEG spectral power differences between 16 cognitively normal older adults (CNOA; mean age: 74.5 ± 4.0 years) and 16 individuals with MCI (mean age: 77.1 ± 4.3 years) linked to a value-directed strategic processing task. The task used five unique word lists where words were assigned high- or low-value based on letter case and were presented sequentially while EEG was recorded. Participants were instructed to recall as many words as possible after each list to maximize their score. Results revealed no group differences in recall of low-value words, but individuals with MCI recalled significantly fewer high-value words and total number of words relative to CNOA. Group differences were observed in theta and alpha bands for low-value words, with greater synchronized theta power for CNOA than MCI and greater desynchronized alpha power for MCI than CNOA. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that more effortful neural processing of low-value words in the MCI group, relative to the CNOA group, allowed them to match their behavioral performance to the CNOA group. Individuals with MCI appear to utilize more cognitive resources to inhibit low-value information and might show memory-related benefits if taught strategies to focus on high-value information processing.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Alexandra L. Clark ◽  
Alexandra J. Weigand ◽  
Kelsey R. Thomas ◽  
Seraphina K. Solders ◽  
Lisa Delano-Wood ◽  
...  

Background: Age-related cerebrovascular and neuroinflammatory processes have been independently identified as key mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), although their interactive effects have yet to be fully examined. Objective: The current study examined 1) the influence of pulse pressure (PP) and inflammatory markers on AD protein levels and 2) links between protein biomarkers and cognitive function in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This study included 218 ADNI (81 cognitively normal [CN], 137 MCI) participants who underwent lumbar punctures, apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping, and cognitive testing. Cerebrospinal (CSF) levels of eight pro-inflammatory markers were used to create an inflammation composite, and amyloid-beta 1–42 (Aβ 42), phosphorylated tau (p-tau), and total tau (t-tau) were quantified. Results: Multiple regression analyses controlling for age, education, and APOE ɛ4 genotype revealed significant PP x inflammation interactions for t-tau (B = 0.88, p = 0.01) and p-tau (B = 0.84, p = 0.02); higher inflammation was associated with higher levels of tau within the MCI group. However, within the CN group, analyses revealed a significant PP x inflammation interaction for Aβ 42 (B = –1.01, p = 0.02); greater inflammation was associated with higher levels of Aβ 42 (indicative of lower cerebral amyloid burden) in those with lower PP. Finally, higher levels of tau were associated with poorer memory performance within the MCI group only (p s <  0.05). Conclusion: PP and inflammation exert differential effects on AD CSF proteins and provide evidence that vascular risk is associated with greater AD pathology across our sample of CN and MCI older adults.


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