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. 2020;54(6):446-453.
doi: 10.1159/000510133. Epub 2020 Oct 5.

Pattern Recognition to Objectively Differentiate the Etiology of Cognitive Decline: Analysis of the Impact of Stroke and Alzheimer's Disease

Sean A P Clouston  1 , Lauren L Richmond  2 , Stacey B Scott  2 , Christian C Luhmann  2   3 , Ginny Natale  4 , Douglas Hanes  4 , Yun Zhang  4 , Dylan M Smith  5
Affiliations

Pattern Recognition to Objectively Differentiate the Etiology of Cognitive Decline: Analysis of the Impact of Stroke and Alzheimer's Disease

Sean A P Clouston et al. Neuroepidemiology. 2020.

Abstract

Background: Undetected Alzheimer's disease (AD) and stroke neuropathology is believed to account for a large proportion of decline in cognitive performance that is attributed to normal aging. This study examined the amount of variance in age-related cognitive change that is accounted for by AD and stroke using a novel pattern recognition protocol.

Method: Secondary analyses of data collected for the Health and Retirement Study (N = 17,579) were used to objectively characterize patterns of cognitive decline associated with AD and stroke. The rate of decline in episodic memory and orientation was the outcome of interest, while algorithms indicative of AD and stroke pathology were the predictors of interest.

Results: The average age of the sample was 67.54 ± 10.45 years at baseline, and they completed, on average, 14.20 ± 3.56 years of follow-up. After adjusting for demographics, AD and stroke accounted for approximately half of age-associated decline in cognition (51.07-55.6% for orientation and episodic memory, respectively) and explained variance attributed to random slopes in longitudinal multilevel models.

Discussion: The results of this study suggested that approximately half of the cognitive decline usually attributed to normal aging are more characteristic of AD and stroke.

Keywords: Adaptive diagnostics; Cerebrovascular disease; Neuroepidemiology; Pattern recognition.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None to report.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Differential pathological characterization based on aging pattern in episodic memory: Vascular decline occurs quickly but stabilizes while Alzheimer’s-related decline represents slow but progressive declines in cognitive function with time.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Predicted episodic memory trajectories for normal aging, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease detected using pattern-recognition methodology, Health and Retirement Study Note: Results were generated using posterior predictions from Table 2, Model 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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