Objective: We investigated how well a visual associative learning task discriminates Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia from other types of dementia and how it relates to AD pathology.
Methods: 3,599 patients (63.9 ± 8.
Background: Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is generally considered a young-onset dementia, although age at onset is highly variable. While several studies indicate clinical differences regarding age at onset, no biomarker validated cohort studies with updated clinical criteria have been performed.
Objective: We aimed to examine behavior, cognition, and mortality over the full age spectrum in a cohort of bvFTD patients with neuroimaging, genetic, or histopathological confirmation and exclusion of positive Alzheimer's disease biomarkers or severe cerebrovascular damage.
A clinical syndrome with neuropsychiatric features of bvFTD without neuroimaging abnormalities and a lack of decline is a phenocopy of bvFTD (phFTD). Growing evidence suggests that psychological, psychiatric and environmental factors underlie phFTD. We describe a patient diagnosed with bvFTD prior to the revision of the diagnostic guidelines of FTD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe concept of the right temporal variant of frontotemporal dementia (rtvFTD) is still equivocal. The syndrome accompanying predominant right anterior temporal atrophy has previously been described as memory loss, prosopagnosia, getting lost and behavioural changes. Accurate detection is challenging, as the clinical syndrome might be confused with either behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD) or Alzheimer's disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutrition is one of the modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia, and is therefore highly relevant in the context of prevention. However, knowledge of dietary quality in clinical populations on the spectrum of AD dementia is lacking, therefore we studied the association between dietary quality and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and controls. We included 357 participants from the NUDAD project (134 AD dementia, 90 MCI, 133 controls).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To identify determinants within 3 different domains (ie, somatic comorbidities, cognitive functioning, and neuropsychiatric symptoms [NPS]) of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) over time in memory clinic patients without dementia.
Methods: This longitudinal multicenter cohort study with a 3-year observation period recruited 315 individuals (age: 69.8 ± 8.
When differential diagnosis of dementia includes both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), distribution of cerebral glucose metabolism as measured using [F]‑2‑fluoro‑2‑deoxy‑d‑glucose positron emission tomography ([F]FDG-PET) may be helpful. One important clue for differentiation is the presence of hypometabolism in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), usually associated with AD. PCC hypometabolism however, could also be present in bvFTD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinical decision support systems (CDSSs) hold potential for the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. We developed a novel CDSS, the PredictND tool, designed for differential diagnosis of different types of dementia. It combines information obtained from multiple diagnostic tests such as neuropsychological tests, MRI and cerebrospinal fluid samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Survival after dementia diagnosis varies considerably. Previous studies were focused mainly on factors related to demographics and comorbidity rather than on Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related determinants. We set out to answer the question whether markers with proven diagnostic value also have prognostic value.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine cross-sectional effects of cognitive reserve (CR) and brain reserve (BR) on cognition across the spectrum of Alzheimer disease (AD).
Methods: We included 663 AD biomarker-positive participants with dementia (probable AD, n = 462) or in the predementia stages (preclinical/prodromal AD, n = 201). Education was used as a proxy of CR and intracranial volume as a proxy of BR.
We aimed to investigate associations between regional cortical thickness and rate of decline over time in 4 cognitive domains in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). We included 233 SCD patients with the total number of 654 neuropsychological assessments (median = 3, range = 2-8) and available baseline magnetic resonance imaging from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (125 males, age: 63 ± 9, Mini-Mental State Examination score: 28 ± 2). We assessed longitudinal cognitive functioning at baseline and follow-up in 4 cognitive domains (composite Z-scores): memory, attention, executive function, and language.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To compare neuropsychological profiles in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) with its most common primary psychiatric differential diagnoses, major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), and schizophrenia, in older patients with active symptoms.
Methods: We included patients from different cohorts with MDD (DSM-IV-TR: 296.20-296.
Introduction: Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show heterogeneity in profile of cognitive impairment. We aimed to identify cognitive subtypes in four large AD cohorts using a data-driven clustering approach.
Methods: We included probable AD dementia patients from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (n = 496), Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (n = 376), German Dementia Competence Network (n = 521), and University of California, San Francisco (n = 589).
Background: Many older people worry about cognitive decline. Early cognitive screening in an anonymous and easily accessible manner may reassure older people who are unnecessarily worried about normal cognitive aging while it may also expedite help seeking in case of suspicious cognitive decline.
Objective: To develop and validate online and telephone-based automated self-tests of cognitive function.
Background: The major genetic risk factor for late onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the APOE-ɛ4 allele. However, APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity is not fully penetrant, suggesting co-occurrence of additional genetic variants.
Objective: To identify genetic factors that, next to APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity, contribute to the development of AD.
Introduction: We examined the association between decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and subjective cognitive decline (SCD).
Methods: We included 161 AD, 95 MCI, and 143 SCD patients from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort. We used 3-T pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling to estimate whole-brain and regional partial volume-corrected CBF.
Few data are available concerning the role of risk markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in progression to AD dementia among subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We therefore investigated the role of well-known AD-associated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the progression from MCI to AD dementia. Four independent MCI data sets were included in the analysis: (a) the German study on Aging, Cognition and Dementia in primary care patients (n=853); (b) the German Dementia Competence Network (n=812); (c) the Fundació ACE from Barcelona, Spain (n=1245); and (d) the MCI data set of the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (n=306).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: We evaluated the effect of Alzheimer's disease (AD) susceptibility loci on endophenotypes closely related with AD pathology in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Methods: We selected 1730 MCI patients from four independent data sets. Weighted polygenic risk scores (PGS) were constructed of 18 non-apolipoprotein E (APOE) AD risk variants.
Background And Purpose: In patients with subjective cognitive decline, we assessed whether small vessel disease was associated with clinical progression and cognitive decline.
Methods: We included 334 patients with subjective cognitive decline. Follow-up was 3±2 years.
Objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a heterogeneous disorder with complex underlying neuropathology that is still not completely understood. For better understanding of this heterogeneity, we aimed to identify cognitive subtypes using latent class analysis (LCA) in a large sample of patients with AD dementia. In addition, we explored the relationship between the identified cognitive subtypes, and their demographical and neurobiological characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors that is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. It is unclear however, if the presence of the MetS is associated with a particular clinical profile or a different prognosis in patients with cognitive complaints or early dementia.
Objectives: To compare 1) the clinical profile and 2) the prognosis of patients attending a memory clinic according to the presence or absence of MetS.
Studies have suggested that, in subjects with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like changes may occur in the brain. Recently, an in vivo study has indicated the potential of ultra-high-field MRI to visualize amyloid-beta (Aβ)-associated changes in the cortex in patients with AD, manifested by a phase shift on T2 *-weighted MRI scans. The main aim of this study was to investigate whether cortical phase shifts on T2 *-weighted images at 7 T in subjects with SCI can be detected, possibly implicating the deposition of Aβ plaques and associated iron.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We investigated the course of decline in multiple cognitive domains in non-demented subjects from a memory clinic setting, and compared pattern, onset and magnitude of decline between subjects who progressed to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia at follow-up and subjects who did not progress.
Method: In this retrospective cohort study 819 consecutive non-demented patients who visited the memory clinics in Maastricht or Amsterdam between 1987 and 2010 were followed until they became demented or for a maximum of 10 years (range 0.5-10 years).
Early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients present a different clinical profile than late-onset AD patients. This can be partially explained by cortical atrophy, although brain organization might provide more insight. The aim of this study was to examine functional connectivity in early-onset and late-onset AD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In Alzheimer's disease (AD), some patients present with cognitive impairment other than episodic memory disturbances. We evaluated whether occurrence of posterior atrophy (PA) and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) could account for differences in cognitive domains affected.
Methods: In 329 patients with AD, we assessed five cognitive domains: memory, language, visuospatial functioning, executive functioning, and attention.