Amyloid Burden, Neuronal Function, and Cognitive Decline in Middle-Aged Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease. (11th March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Okonkwo, Ozioma C.; Oh, Jennifer M.; Koscik, Rebecca; Jonaitis, Erin; Cleary, Caitlin A.; Dowling, N. Maritza; Bendlin, Barbara B.; LaRue, Asenath; Hermann, Bruce P.; Barnhart, Todd E.; Murali, Dhanabalan; Rowley, Howard A.; Carlsson, Cynthia M.; Gallagher, Catherine L.; Asthana, Sanjay; Sager, Mark A.; Christian, Brad T.; Johnson, Sterling C.
• Is Part Of: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Volume 20:Number 4(2014:Apr.)
• Page Start: 422
• Page End: 433
• Publication Date: 2014-03-11
• Subjects: Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1017/S1355617714000113
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1355-6177

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>The relative influence of amyloid burden, neuronal structure and function, and prior cognitive performance on prospective memory decline among asymptomatic late middle-aged individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is currently unknown. We investigated this using longitudinal cognitive data from 122 middle-aged adults (21 "Decliners" and 101 "Stables") enrolled in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention who underwent multimodality neuroimaging [<sup>11</sup>C-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB), <sup>18</sup>F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), and structural/functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)] 5.7 ± 1.4 years (range = 2.9–8.9) after their baseline cognitive assessment. Covariate-adjusted regression analyses revealed that the only imaging measure that significantly distinguished Decliners from Stables (<italic>p</italic> = .027) was a Neuronal Function composite derived from FDG and fMRI. In contrast, several cognitive measures, especially those that tap episodic memory, significantly distinguished the groups (<italic>p</italic>'s<.05). Complementary receiver operating characteristic curve analyses identified the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) Total (.82 ± .05, <italic>p</italic> < .001), the BVMT-R Delayed Recall (.73 ± .06, <italic>p</italic> = .001), and the Reading subtest from the Wide-Range Achievement Test-III (.72 ± .06, <italic>p</italic> = .002) as the top three measures that best discriminated the groups. These findings suggest that early memory test performance might serve a more clinically pivotal role in forecasting future cognitive course than is currently presumed. (<italic>JINS</italic>, 2014, <italic>20</italic>, 1–12)</p> </abstract>