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Objective@#The Block Design Test (BDT) is known to be an effective measure in diagnosing age-related cognitive decline of visuospatial function. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of age, education years, and gender on the performance of the BDT and to provide normative data in Korean community-dwelling participants who are 55 to 90 years old. @*Methods@#The participants were 432 non-demented adults aging from 55 to 90 years old. The BDT was administered to participants according to its manual. Multiple linear regressions and analyses of variance were conducted, including age, gender, and educations were used as covariates. @*Results@#Age, educational years, and gender were found to be significantly associated with performance on the BDT. As age increased, BDT performance decreased. Educational years were associated with BDT performance. Men showed higher performance (29.9±10.3) compare to women (26.1±8.7). The BDT is influenced by age, educational years, and gender. @*Conclusion@#Unlike the previous study, the current study shows that gender has a significant influence in visuospatial ability in the old population. Present normative data will be useful for clinicians in evaluating aging participants with cognitive impairment.
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Objective@#Anosognosia is a common phenomenon in individuals with dementia. Anosognosia Questionnaire for dementia (AQ-D) is a well-known scale for evaluating anosognosia. This study aimed to establish a Korean version of the AQ-D (AQ-D-K) and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the AQ-D-K in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia. @*Methods@#We translated the original English version of AQ-D into Korean (AQ-D-K). Eighty-four subjects with very mild or mild AD dementia and their caregivers participated. Reliability of AQ-D-K was assessed by internal consistency and one-month test-retest reliability. Construct validity and concurrent validity were also evaluated. @*Results@#Internal consistencies of the AQ-D-K patient form and caregiver form were high (Cronbach alpha 0.95 and 0.93, respectively). The test-retest reliability of AQ-D-K measured by intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.84. Three factors were identified: 1) anosognosia of instrumental activity of daily living; 2) anosognosia basic activity of daily living; and 3) anosognosia of depression and disinhibition. AQ-D-K score was significantly correlated with the clinician-rated anosognosia rating scale (ARS), center for epidemiological studies-depression scale (CES-D) and state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI). @*Conclusion@#The findings suggest that the AQ-D-K is a reliable and valid scale for evaluating anosognosia for AD dementia patients using Korean language.
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Purpose@#Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Brain atrophy in this disease spectrum begins in the medial temporal lobe structure, which can be recognized by magnetic resonance imaging. To overcome the unsatisfactory inter-observer reliability of visual evaluation, quantitative brain volumetry has been developed and widely investigated for the diagnosis of MCI and AD. The aim of this study was to assess the prediction accuracy of quantitative brain volumetry using a fully automated segmentation software package, NeuroQuant®, for the diagnosis of MCI. @*Materials and Methods@#A total of 418 subjects from the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease cohort were included in our study. Each participant was allocated to either a cognitively normal old group (n = 285) or an MCI group (n = 133). Brain volumetric data were obtained from T1-weighted images using the NeuroQuant software package. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to investigate relevant brain regions and their prediction accuracies. @*Results@#Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that normative percentiles of the hippocampus (P < 0.001), amygdala (P = 0.003), frontal lobe (P = 0.049), medial parietal lobe (P = 0.023), and third ventricle (P = 0.012) were independent predictive factors for MCI. In ROC analysis, normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala showed fair accuracies in the diagnosis of MCI (area under the curve: 0.739 and 0.727, respectively). @*Conclusion@#Normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala provided by the fully automated segmentation software could be used for screening MCI with a reasonable post-processing time. This information might help us interpret structural MRI in patients with cognitive impairment.
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Objective@#The Block Design Test (BDT) is known to be an effective measure in diagnosing age-related cognitive decline of visuospatial function. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of age, education years, and gender on the performance of the BDT and to provide normative data in Korean community-dwelling participants who are 55 to 90 years old. @*Methods@#The participants were 432 non-demented adults aging from 55 to 90 years old. The BDT was administered to participants according to its manual. Multiple linear regressions and analyses of variance were conducted, including age, gender, and educations were used as covariates. @*Results@#Age, educational years, and gender were found to be significantly associated with performance on the BDT. As age increased, BDT performance decreased. Educational years were associated with BDT performance. Men showed higher performance (29.9±10.3) compare to women (26.1±8.7). The BDT is influenced by age, educational years, and gender. @*Conclusion@#Unlike the previous study, the current study shows that gender has a significant influence in visuospatial ability in the old population. Present normative data will be useful for clinicians in evaluating aging participants with cognitive impairment.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#Anosognosia is a common phenomenon in individuals with dementia. Anosognosia Questionnaire for dementia (AQ-D) is a well-known scale for evaluating anosognosia. This study aimed to establish a Korean version of the AQ-D (AQ-D-K) and to evaluate the reliability and validity of the AQ-D-K in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia. @*Methods@#We translated the original English version of AQ-D into Korean (AQ-D-K). Eighty-four subjects with very mild or mild AD dementia and their caregivers participated. Reliability of AQ-D-K was assessed by internal consistency and one-month test-retest reliability. Construct validity and concurrent validity were also evaluated. @*Results@#Internal consistencies of the AQ-D-K patient form and caregiver form were high (Cronbach alpha 0.95 and 0.93, respectively). The test-retest reliability of AQ-D-K measured by intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.84. Three factors were identified: 1) anosognosia of instrumental activity of daily living; 2) anosognosia basic activity of daily living; and 3) anosognosia of depression and disinhibition. AQ-D-K score was significantly correlated with the clinician-rated anosognosia rating scale (ARS), center for epidemiological studies-depression scale (CES-D) and state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI). @*Conclusion@#The findings suggest that the AQ-D-K is a reliable and valid scale for evaluating anosognosia for AD dementia patients using Korean language.
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Purpose@#Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Brain atrophy in this disease spectrum begins in the medial temporal lobe structure, which can be recognized by magnetic resonance imaging. To overcome the unsatisfactory inter-observer reliability of visual evaluation, quantitative brain volumetry has been developed and widely investigated for the diagnosis of MCI and AD. The aim of this study was to assess the prediction accuracy of quantitative brain volumetry using a fully automated segmentation software package, NeuroQuant®, for the diagnosis of MCI. @*Materials and Methods@#A total of 418 subjects from the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease cohort were included in our study. Each participant was allocated to either a cognitively normal old group (n = 285) or an MCI group (n = 133). Brain volumetric data were obtained from T1-weighted images using the NeuroQuant software package. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to investigate relevant brain regions and their prediction accuracies. @*Results@#Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that normative percentiles of the hippocampus (P < 0.001), amygdala (P = 0.003), frontal lobe (P = 0.049), medial parietal lobe (P = 0.023), and third ventricle (P = 0.012) were independent predictive factors for MCI. In ROC analysis, normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala showed fair accuracies in the diagnosis of MCI (area under the curve: 0.739 and 0.727, respectively). @*Conclusion@#Normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala provided by the fully automated segmentation software could be used for screening MCI with a reasonable post-processing time. This information might help us interpret structural MRI in patients with cognitive impairment.
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Objective@#：The available normative data for the phonemic fluency test in Korean older adults have concerns for its utility. The aim of the currently study is to provide the normative data that overcome the issues of the previous norms. @*Methods@#：Total of 443 middle- and old-aged non-demented adults participated in this study. All participants underwent comprehensive assessments conducted by trained psychiatrists and psychologists. Diagnosis was made based on formal guidelines prior to administering the phonemic fluency test. @*Results@#：The norms on two age groups (50-59 and 60-90 years) with different strata of the education levels for the age groups are provided. @*Conclusion@#：The goal of the current study, which was to overcome the shortcomings of the previously published normative data and establish an updated reference for the Korean version of the phonemic fluency test, is achieved.
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Objective@#We investigated whether the addition of Alzheimer’s disease-signature region cortical thickness (AD-Ct) and hippocampal volume (Hv) obtained from brain MRI to subjective memory complaints and informant-reports of cognitive decline enhances the screening accuracy for cognitive disorders in a memory clinic setting. @*Methods@#120 participants (40 cognitively normal, 40 MCI, 40 dementia) underwent clinical evaluation, neuropsychological assessment, and brain MRI. The Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire (SMCQ) and Seoul Informant-Report Questionnaire for Dementia (SIRQD) were applied to assess subjective memory complaints and informant-reports of cognitive decline respectively. Logistic regression and ROC curve analyses were conducted to compare the screening abilities of SMCQ+SIRQD, SMCQ+SIRQD+Hv, and SMCQ+SIRQD+AD-Ct models for cognitive disorders. @*Results@#SMCQ+SIRQD+Hv model indicated better screening accuracy for MCI and overall cognitive disorder (CDall) than SMCQ+ SIRQD model. SMCQ+SIRQD+AD-Ct model had superior screening accuracy for dementia in comparison to SMCQ+SIRQD model. ROC curve analyses revealed that SMCQ+SIRQD+Hv model had the greatest area under the curve (AUC) for screening MCI and CDall (AUC: 0.941 and 0.957), while SMCQ+SIRQD+AD-Ct model had the greatest AUC for screening dementia (AUC: 0.966). @*Conclusion@#Our results suggest that the addition of regional quantitative MRI data enhances the screening ability of subjective memory complaints and informant-reports of cognitive decline for MCI and dementia.
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Objective@#We aimed to compare cerebral beta-amyloid protein (Aβ) positivity rate and amyloid accumulation pattern on amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes, i.e. amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI). @*Methods@#The study participants were 34 naMCI patients and age-, sex- and education-matched 68 aMCI patients (1:2 ratio) who visited the Dementia and Age-Associated Cognitive Decline Clinic of the Seoul National University Hospital. All participants received comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological assessments and [18F] florbetaben PET. @*Results@#Aβ positivity rate of naMCI group (26.5%) was significantly lower than that of aMCI group (64.7%). Among Aβ positive individuals, there was no difference in Aβ accumulation pattern between naMCI and aMCI. @*Conclusion@#The findings suggest that MCI subtypes based on impaired cognitive domains have a differential association with brain Aβ deposition, a core pathology of AD. Amnestic subtype of MCI are more closely associated with cerebral Aβ deposition compared to nonamnestic subtype. In contrast, the pattern of amyloid deposition does not appear to have any difference between the subtypes.
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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to identify the demographic variables that are affecting performances on the Logical Memory (LM) subtest included in the Korean version of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)-IV and to provide normative data on the LM subtest for the middle-age and elderly Korean people.METHODS: The participants were 435 non-demented adults aging from 50 to 90 and with the educational level ranging from 0 to 21 years.RESULTS: Age and education were found to be significantly associated with performance on the LM subtest, while gender effect was not statistically significant. Therefore, we stratified the norm blocks by age and education. Age was divided into three groups: 50–59, 60–74, and 75–90 years. Education was stratified into three groups: 0–8 years, 9–12 years, and 13 years or more.CONCLUSION: The normative data provided in the current study are expected to be useful in clinical and research settings to detect or define subtle changes in episodic memory in Korean adults and elderly, and can also be used for cross-cultural comparison of verbal episodic memory performance among elderly populations using different languages.
Subject(s)
Adult , Aged , Humans , Aging , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Education , Logic , Memory , Memory, EpisodicABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the usefulness of each subscale score of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) for predicting Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia progression in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) elderly subjects. METHODS: Fifty-nine elderly MCI individuals were recruited from a university dementia and memory disorder clinic. Standardized clinical and neuropsychological tests were performed both at baseline and at the time of 2 years follow-up. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the ability of various clinical measures or their combinations to predict progression to AD dementia in MCI individuals. RESULTS: MCIp individuals showed significantly higher CDR Orientation subscale and CDR sum-of-boxes (SOB) score than MCInp ones, while there were no significant differences in other CDR subscale scores between the two. MCIp individuals also showed marginally higher MMSE scores than MCInp ones. A series of logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the model including CDR Orientation subscale had better AD dementia prediction accuracy than either the model with either MMSE or CDR-SOB. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that CDR Orientation subscale score, a simple and easily available clinical measure, could provide very useful information to predict AD dementia progression in amnestic MCI individuals in real clinical settings.
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Alzheimer Disease , Dementia , Follow-Up Studies , Logistic Models , Memory Disorders , Cognitive Dysfunction , Neuropsychological TestsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The Korean Brain Aging Study for the Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer's disease (KBASE) aimed to recruit 650 individuals, aged from 20 to 90 years, to search for new biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to investigate how multi-faceted lifetime experiences and bodily changes contribute to the brain changes or brain pathologies related to the AD process. METHODS: All participants received comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological evaluations, multi-modal brain imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance angiography, [11C]Pittsburgh compound B-positron emission tomography (PET), and [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose-PET, blood and genetic marker analyses at baseline, and a subset of participants underwent actigraph monitoring and completed a sleep diary. Participants are to be followed annually with clinical and neuropsychological assessments, and biannually with the full KBASE assessment, including neuroimaging and laboratory tests. RESULTS: As of March 2017, in total, 758 individuals had volunteered for this study. Among them, in total, 591 participants–291 cognitively normal (CN) old-aged individuals, 74 CN young- and middle-aged individuals, 139 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 87 individuals with AD dementia (ADD)–were enrolled at baseline, after excluding 162 individuals. A subset of participants (n=275) underwent actigraph monitoring. CONCLUSION: The KBASE cohort is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study that recruited participants with a wide age range and a wide distribution of cognitive status (CN, MCI, and ADD) and it has several strengths in its design and methodologies. Details of the recruitment, study methodology, and baseline sample characteristics are described in this paper.
Subject(s)
Aging , Alzheimer Disease , Biomarkers , Brain , Cohort Studies , Dementia , Early Diagnosis , Genetic Markers , Magnetic Resonance Angiography , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Cognitive Dysfunction , Neuroimaging , Pathology , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the accuracy of subjective memory complaints, informant-reports for cognitive declines, and their combination for screening cognitive disorders in memory clinic setting. METHODS: One-hundred thirtytwo cognitively normal (CN), 136 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 546 dementia who visited the memory clinic in the Seoul National University Hospital underwent standardized clinical evaluation and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. The Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire (SMCQ) and the Seoul Informant Report Questionnaire for Dementia (SIRQD) were used to assess subjective memory complaints and informant-reports for cognitive declines, respectively. RESULTS: Both SMCQ and SIRQD showed significant screening ability for MCI, dementia, and overall cognitive disorder (CDall: MCI plus dementia) (screening accuracy: 60.1–94.6%). The combination of SMCQ and SIRQD (SMCQ+SIRQD) was found to have significantly better screening accuracy compared to SMCQ alone for any cognitive disorders. SMCQ+SIRQD also significantly improved screening accuracy of SIRQD alone for MCI and CDall, but not for dementia. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the combined information of both subjective memory complaints and informant-reports for cognitive declines can improve MCI screening by each individual information, while such combination appears not better than informant-reports in regard of dementia screening.
Subject(s)
Aged , Humans , Dementia , Mass Screening , Memory , Cognitive Dysfunction , SeoulABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the clinical characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia with low brain amyloid-beta (Aβ-AD) burden comparing with AD dementia with high amyloid-beta burden (Aβ+AD). We also developed a prediction model for the amyloid positivity on ¹¹C-labelled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) positron emission tomography (PET) with distinct clinical variables in AD dementia patients. METHODS: Fifty-nine clinically defined AD dementia individuals, who participated in the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early diagnosis and prediction of AD (KBASE) study, were included. All the subjects received comprehensive clinical evaluations and PiB-PET. Based on cerebral PiB retention, all subjects were divided into Aβ+AD (n=47) and Aβ-AD (n=12) subgroups. To develop a prediction model for amyloid positivity, stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted. RESULTS: When compared to Aβ+AD, Aβ-AD showed older age, later age-at-onset, and lower education. In regard of risk factors for dementia, Aβ-AD had higher frequency of hypertension and diabetes mellitus as well as lower frequency of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele. Although there was no between group difference in Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) or CDR sum-of-boxes scores, mini-mental state examination and constructional recall scores were higher for Aβ-AD than Aβ+AD. The final amyloid positivity prediction model included APOE4 genotype, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study indicated that clinically diagnosed AD dementia may have high possibility of not being pathological AD if they have older age and higher vascular risks, and did not have APOE4 genotype.
Subject(s)
Humans , Age of Onset , Aging , Alleles , Alzheimer Disease , Amyloid , Apolipoprotein E4 , Apolipoproteins , Brain , Dementia , Diabetes Mellitus , Early Diagnosis , Education , Genotype , Hypertension , Logistic Models , Positron-Emission Tomography , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
We compared the predictive ability of the various neuroimaging tools and determined the most cost-effective, non-invasive Alzheimer's disease (AD) prediction model in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) individuals. Thirty-two MCI subjects were evaluated at baseline with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and neuropsychological tests, and then followed up for 2 yr. After a follow up period, 12 MCI subjects converted to AD (MCIc) and 20 did not (MCInc). Of the voxel-based statistical comparisons of baseline neuroimaging data, the MCIc showed reduced cerebral glucose metabolism (CMgl) in the temporo-parietal, posterior cingulate, precuneus, and frontal regions, and gray matter (GM) density in multiple cortical areas including the frontal, temporal and parietal regions compared to the MCInc, whereas regional fractional anisotropy derived from DTI were not significantly different between the two groups. The MCIc also had lower Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score than the MCInc. Through a series of model selection steps, the MMSE combined with CMgl model was selected as a final model (classification accuracy 93.8%). In conclusion, the combination of MMSE with regional CMgl measurement based on FDG-PET is probably the most efficient, non-invasive method to predict AD in MCI individuals after a two-year follow-up period.