Alzheimer s & Dementia | 2019
SUBTHRESHOLD DEPRESSION AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH IMMEDIATE RECALL AND RECOGNITION IN A MULTIDOMAIN ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY TEST IN ELDERLY MEXICAN ADULTS
Abstract
pathology. The problem is, however, that it appears that the clinical syndromic features for lvPPA are too narrow to capture Alzheimerrelated PPA. In many cohorts a non-negligible number of participants have a diffuse profile of impairment that goes beyond the criteria for lvPPA yet these patients often have underlying Alzheimer’s pathology (Villarejo-Galende et al., 2017). In this study, a clinically unbiased method was adopted to investigate the cognitive profile of patients with confirmed amyloid pathology. Methods: 26 patients fulfilling the general criteria for PPA were included and administered an extensive neuropsychological test battery as well as an F-Florbetaben Positron Emission Tomography (PET). 11 PPA patients had a positive amyloid PET (Aß+PPA). The neuropsychological profile of Aß+PPA was investigated and compared to 28 HC and 15 PPA patients with negative PET (9 SvPPA & 6 NfvPPA). Results: Confirming expectations, NfvPPA were impaired in grammar and relatively preserved in semantics whereas SvPPA showed the opposite pattern. Only one Aß+PPA patient fulfilled the criteria for LvPPA. The remaining Aß+PPA patients, in contrast, had an extensive language deficit that affected tests of semantics and grammar to a comparable extent. Moreover, repetition deficits were typically present not just for sentences but also at the single word level in Aß+PPA. Conclusions: The study confirms that the criteria for LvPPA are too narrow to allow a sensitive prediction of Alzheimer’s disease in the context of PPA. A pervasive language impairment seems to be the rule in Aß+PPA rather than an exception. Moreover, repetition of words versus sentences does not seem valuable for the differential diagnosis with NfvPPA.