A novel cognitive assessment paradigm to detect Pre-mild cognitive impairment (PreMCI) and the relationship to biological markers of Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: A number of older adults obtain normal scores on formal cognitive tests, but present clinical concerns that raise suspicion of cognitive decline. Despite not meeting full criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), these PreMCI states confer risk for progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). This investigation addressed a pressing need to identify cognitive measures that are sensitive to PreMCI and are associated with brain biomarkers of neurodegeneration.

Method: Participants included 49 older adults with a clinical history suggestive of cognitive decline but normal scores on an array of neuropsychological measures, thus not meeting formal criteria for MCI. The performance of these PreMCI participants were compared to 117 cognitively normal (CN) elders on the LASSI-L, a cognitive stress test that uniquely assesses the failure to recover from proactive semantic interference effects (frPSI). Finally, a subset of these individuals had volumetric analyses based on MRI scans.

Results: PreMCI participants evidenced greater LASSI- L deficits, particularly with regards to frPSI and delayed recall, relative to the CN group. No differences on MRI measures were observed. Controlling for false discovery rate (FDR), frPSI was uniquely related to increased dilatation of the inferior lateral ventricle and decreased MRI volumes in the hippocampus, precuneus, superior parietal region, and other AD prone areas. In contrast, other LASSI-L indices and standard memory tests were not related to volumetric findings.

Conclusions: Despite equivalent performance on traditional memory measures, the frPSI distinguished between PreMCI and CN elders and was associated with reductions in brain volume in numerous AD-relevant brain regions.