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. 2015 Sep 15;10(9):e0137121.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137121. eCollection 2015.

Posterior Atrophy and Medial Temporal Atrophy Scores Are Associated with Different Symptoms in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Jung-Lung Hsu  1 , Wei-Ju Lee  2 , Yi-Chu Liao  3 , Jiing-Feng Lirng  4 , Shuu-Jiun Wang  5 , Jong-Ling Fuh  3
Affiliations

Posterior Atrophy and Medial Temporal Atrophy Scores Are Associated with Different Symptoms in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Jung-Lung Hsu et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Whether the occurrence of posterior atrophy (PA) and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) was correlated with cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients are unclear.

Methods: Patients with probable AD and MCI from a medical center outpatient clinic received attention, memory, language, executive function evaluation and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE). The severity of dementia was rated by the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Sum of Box (CDR-SB). The neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) subscale of agitation/aggression and mood symptoms was also applied. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was scored visually for the MTA, PA and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) scores.

Results: We recruited 129 AD and 31 MCI (mean age 78.8 years, 48% female) patients. MMSE scores, memory, language and executive function were all significantly decreased in individuals with AD than those with MCI (p < 0.01). MTA and PA scores reflected significant atrophy in AD compared to MCI; however, the WMH scores did not differ. The MTA scores were significantly correlated with the frontal, parieto-occipital and global WMH scores (p < 0.01) while the PA scores showed a correlation with the parieto-occipital and temporal WMH scores (p < 0.01). After adjusting for age, education, APOE4 gene and diagnostic group covariates, the MTA scores showed a significant association with MMSE and CDR-SB, while the right side PA scores were significantly associated with NPI-agitation/aggression subscales (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: Regional atrophy is related to different symptoms in patients with AD or MCI. PA score is useful as a complementary measure for non-cognitive symptom.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Illustrating the moderate atrophy of MTA and PA scores.
(A). the right side MTA score is 2 and the left side MTA score is 1. (B). the both side of PA score is 2. R: right side.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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