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. 2023;94(1):147-162.
doi: 10.3233/JAD-221243.

Memory Outcome in Prodromal and Mild Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer's Disease: A Longitudinal Study

Manon Querry  1   2 , Frédéric Blanc  1   2 , Olivier Bousiges  2   3 , Nathalie Philippi  2   4 , Benjamin Cretin  2   4 , Catherine Demuynck  1 , Candice Muller  1 , Anne Botzung  1   2
Affiliations

Memory Outcome in Prodromal and Mild Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer's Disease: A Longitudinal Study

Manon Querry et al. J Alzheimers Dis. 2023.

Abstract

Background: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are likely to induce memory impairments from the prodromal stage but, to our knowledge, no longitudinal study of these patients' memory profile has been conducted to date.

Objective: The aim of our study was to describe the characteristics and the evolution of the long-term memory profile of patients with prodromal and mild DLB and AD.

Methods: We collected verbal (RL/RI-16) and visual (DMS48) memory scores from 91 DLB patients, 28 AD patients, 15 patients with both conditions (DLB/AD), and 18 healthy control subjects at their inclusion visit and at 12, 24, and 48 months.

Results: On the RL/RI-16, DLB patients performed better than AD patients in terms of total recall (p < 0.001), delayed total recall (p < 0.001), recognition (p = 0.031), and loss of information over time (p = 0.023). On the DMS48, differences between these two groups were not significant (p > 0.05). Longitudinally, the memory performance of DLB patients was stable over 48 months, unlike that of AD patients.

Conclusion: Four indicators were relevant to distinguish between DLB and AD patients in terms of memory performance: DLB patients benefitted greatly from semantic cueing, their recognition and consolidation abilities were well-preserved, and both their verbal and visual memory performance remained remarkably stable over four years. However, no performance differences between DLB and AD patients were found regarding visual memory, either qualitatively (memory profile) or quantitatively (severity of impairment), indicating the lesser relevance of this test in distinguishing between these two diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; DMS48; Lewy body disease; RL/RI-16; dementia with Lewy bodies; diagnosis; memory; mild cognitive impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Inclusion of DLB, AD, and DLB/AD patients and HCS from the AlphaLewyMA cohort.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Inclusion of DLB, AD, and DLB/AD patients from MCL Visuoconstruction cohort.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Number of patients in each group over time.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
RL/RI-16 memory profiles of the three groups of patients at the inclusion visit. Retrieval disorder: one or more free recalls are deficient but normalized with semantic cueing Storage disorder: one or more total recalls are deficient, and the patient receives little or no help from cueing Consolidation disorder: loss of information between the third total recall and the delayed total recall Encoding disorder: immediate recall score is deficient.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
DMS48 memory profiles of the three groups of patients at the inclusion visit. Encoding disorder: Set 1 is deficient but Set 2 is within the norms Storage disorder: Set 2 is deficient Loss of information/consolidation disorder: loss of information between Set 1 and Set 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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