TY - JOUR
T1 - Age at onset of Alzheimer's disease
T2 - Relation to pattern of cognitive dysfunction and rate of decline
AU - Jacobs, Diane
AU - Sano, M.
AU - Marder, K.
AU - Bell, K.
AU - Bylsma, F.
AU - Lafleche, G.
AU - Albert, M.
AU - Brandt, J.
AU - Stern, Y.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1994/7
Y1 - 1994/7
N2 - We examined the pattern of cognitive impairment and rate of cognitive and functional decline as a function of age at symptom onset in 127 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). At baseline, early-onset (before age 65) and late-onset groups were mildly and comparably impaired on the modified Mini-Mental State Examination (mMMS) andthe Blessed Dementia Rating Scale-Part 1 (BDRS). Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed significantly more rapid decline in early-onset subjects overa 2-year follow-up period. Multivariate linear regression analyses indicated that age at symptom onset strongly predicted rate of decline on the mMMS and the BDRS, even after controlling for symptom duration, gender, family history of dementia, and baseline mMMS and BDRS scores. Early-and late-onset AD subjects also differed in terms of pattern of performance on the mMMS. Early-onset subjects scored significantly lower than late-onset subjects on attentionalitems of the mMMS at baseline and follow-up. Conversely, late-onset subjects scored significantly lower than early-onset subjects on memory and naming items at baseline, and thetwogroups were comparable on these tasks at follow-up. Results provide longitudinal evidenceof more rapid cognitive and functional decline in subjects with early-onset AD and suggest that early-onset AD may be characterized by predominant impairment of attentional skills.
AB - We examined the pattern of cognitive impairment and rate of cognitive and functional decline as a function of age at symptom onset in 127 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). At baseline, early-onset (before age 65) and late-onset groups were mildly and comparably impaired on the modified Mini-Mental State Examination (mMMS) andthe Blessed Dementia Rating Scale-Part 1 (BDRS). Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed significantly more rapid decline in early-onset subjects overa 2-year follow-up period. Multivariate linear regression analyses indicated that age at symptom onset strongly predicted rate of decline on the mMMS and the BDRS, even after controlling for symptom duration, gender, family history of dementia, and baseline mMMS and BDRS scores. Early-and late-onset AD subjects also differed in terms of pattern of performance on the mMMS. Early-onset subjects scored significantly lower than late-onset subjects on attentionalitems of the mMMS at baseline and follow-up. Conversely, late-onset subjects scored significantly lower than early-onset subjects on memory and naming items at baseline, and thetwogroups were comparable on these tasks at follow-up. Results provide longitudinal evidenceof more rapid cognitive and functional decline in subjects with early-onset AD and suggest that early-onset AD may be characterized by predominant impairment of attentional skills.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0027930338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0027930338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1212/wnl.44.7.1215
DO - 10.1212/wnl.44.7.1215
M3 - Article
C2 - 8035918
AN - SCOPUS:0027930338
SN - 0028-3878
VL - 44
SP - 1215
EP - 1220
JO - Neurology
JF - Neurology
IS - 7
ER -