학술논문
Neuropsychiatric Profile as a Predictor of Cognitive Decline in Mild Cognitive Impairment
Document Type
article
Author
Natalia Roberto; Maria J. Portella; Marta Marquié; Montserrat Alegret; Isabel Hernández; Ana Mauleón; Maitee Rosende-Roca; Carla Abdelnour; Ester Esteban de Antonio; Juan P. Tartari; Liliana Vargas; Rogelio López-Cuevas; Urszula Bojaryn; Ana Espinosa; Gemma Ortega; Alba Pérez-Cordón; Ángela Sanabria; Adelina Orellana; Itziar de Rojas; Sonia Moreno-Grau; Laura Montrreal; Emilio Alarcón-Martín; Agustín Ruíz; Lluís Tárraga; Mercè Boada; Sergi Valero
Source
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Vol 13 (2021)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1663-4365
Abstract
Introduction: Mild cognitive impairment is often associated with affective and other neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). This co-occurrence might have a relevant impact on disease progression, from MCI to dementia.Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the trajectories of cognitive decline in an MCI sample from a memory clinic, taking into consideration a perspective of isolated cognitive functions and based on NPS clusters, accounting for the different comorbid symptoms collected at their baseline visit.Methods: A total of 2,137 MCI patients were monitored over a 2.4-year period. Four clusters of NPS (i.e., Irritability, Apathy, Anxiety/Depression and Asymptomatic) were used to run linear mixed models to explore the interaction of cluster with time on cognitive trajectories using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery (NBACE) administered at baseline and at the three subsequent follow-ups.Results: A significant interaction between cluster and time in cognitive decline was found when verbal learning and cued-recall were explored (p = 0.002 for both memory functions). For verbal learning, the Irritability cluster had the largest effect size (0.69), whereas the Asymptomatic cluster showed the smallest effect size (0.22). For cued-recall, the Irritability cluster had the largest effect size among groups (0.64), and Anxiety/Depression had the smallest effect size (0.21).Conclusions: In MCI patients, the Irritability and Apathy NPS clusters shared similar patterns of worsening in memory functioning, which could point to these NPS as risk factors of a faster cognitive decline, acting as early prognostic markers and helping in the diagnostic process.