A study recently conducted at the University of Helsinki indicates that two episodic memory tests can help in predicting Alzheimer’s disease and brain degeneration. These memory tests helped to identify individuals with increased risk of receiving Alzheimer’s diagnosis within the next coming three years. The research team believes that use of these memory tests could greatly improve the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment caused by Alzheimer’s.
In the study, researchers assessed data from 230 cognitively normal patients and 394 with mild cognitive impairment from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Mild cognitive impairment was deemed in those with poor memory performance in one measure of episodic memory, particularly in story recall. Grade of cognitive impairment was further differentiated by whether the individual showed impaired memory in only story recall, or for story and word list recalls.
The scientists evaluated the baseline differences between the groups via cerebrospinal fluid indicators of Alzheimer’s disease, finding that those who expressed poor performance on both memory tests were more related to Alzheimer’s patients than those who only showed poor performance on one.
“During the follow-up stage, brain atrophy in the medial temporal lobes of those who only performed poorly in the story recall test did not differ from the cognitively healthy participants, whereas in those who had poor performance in both the story and word list recall tests, brain atrophy was faster,” said Eero Vuoksimaa, an Academy of Finland research fellow at the University of Helsinki.
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Alzheimer’s disease was identified in roughly half of the participants who did poorly on both episodic memory tests in the three-year study. Compared to only 16% of those being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s who did poorly on only one test, these results argue that these tests can be very efficient in predicting Alzheimer’s in patients.
“The use of two memory tests markedly improved the accuracy of the prognosis for an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and brain atrophy in the medial temporal lobes during a three-year follow-up period,” said Vuoksimaa. “The results highlight the importance of neuropsychological assessment as a cost-effective method of diagnosing mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease.”
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Mild cognitive impairment is a heterogenous condition that can be either reversible or permanent. The condition is constituted by impairment of memory and or other cognitive domains in scenarios where an individual can still independently conduct daily activities. It is important that mild cognitive impairment is not criteria for Alzheimer’s or related dementia diseases, but it is associated with elevated risks of later developing dementia.
Vuoksimaa elaborates on the team’s research, stating: “Indeed, more comprehensive neuropsychological assessment including at least two episodic memory tests could be introduced as part of the health evaluation of the aging population, particularly in cases where memory impairment is suspected. Our method could also be used when selecting participants for clinical drug trials. When looking for preventive drug therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, it would be important to be able to identify those individuals whose early cognitive impairment is due to Alzheimer’s disease.”
Memory tests predict brain atrophy and Alzheimer’s disease | University of Helsinki https://t.co/oFTZxR0Jzf @amchelsinki
— Päivi M. Lehtinen (@PviLe) December 10, 2018
Source: ScienceDaily
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