Pre-dementia clinical stages in presenilin 1 E280A familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and pre-MCI have been proposed as stages preceding Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. We assessed descendants of individuals with a mutation in presenilin 1 (PSEN1) that causes familial AD, with the aim of identifying distinct stages of clinical progression to AD dementia.

Methods: We retrospectively studied a cohort of descendants of carriers of the PSEN1 E280A mutation.