The pattern of performance on sensitive tests of four cognitive domains differentiates groups with progressive cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease

Authors: Vera Maljkovic, Chakib Battioui

Published: 2020-12-07

DOI: 10.1002/alz.047027

Source: Full article


Abstract

AbstractBackgroundA screening challenge for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a paucity of tests sensitive to the different stages of the disease continuum. Progression of clinical disease suggests that multiple tests, sensitive to individual stages of disease development, may better define the range of cognitive abilities and predict the next cognitive domain to decline.Method78 healthy controls and 29 clinically diagnosed cognitively impaired participants (23 Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI, 6 mild Alzheimer’s dementia, mildAD) ages 60‐76, self‐administered at home 9 CANTAB tasks on a provided iPad (Maljkovic et al, AAIC 2019). Four tasks were selected for further analysis: spatial working memory (SWM), paired‐associates learning (PAL), pattern recognition matching‐delayed (PRM‐del) and executive function task ‘One‐touch‐stockings‐of‐Cambridge’ (OTS). We performed two independent cross‐sectional analyses: