Faculty Collaboration Database

Prediction of cognitive decline in healthy older adults using fMRI. J Alzheimers Dis 2010;21(3):871-85

Date

07/17/2010

Pubmed ID

20634590

Pubmed Central ID

PMC2940960

DOI

10.3233/JAD-2010-091693

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-77957269797 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   54 Citations

Abstract

Few studies have examined the extent to which structural and functional MRI, alone and in combination with genetic biomarkers, can predict future cognitive decline in asymptomatic elders. This prospective study evaluated individual and combined contributions of demographic information, genetic risk, hippocampal volume, and fMRI activation for predicting cognitive decline after an 18-month retest interval. Standardized neuropsychological testing, an fMRI semantic memory task (famous name discrimination), and structural MRI (sMRI) were performed on 78 healthy elders (73% female; mean age = 73 years, range = 65 to 88 years). Positive family history of dementia and presence of one or both apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 alleles occurred in 51.3% and 33.3% of the sample, respectively. Hippocampal volumes were traced from sMRI scans. At follow-up, all participants underwent a repeat neuropsychological examination. At 18 months, 27 participants (34.6%) declined by at least 1 SD on one of three neuropsychological measures. Using logistic regression, demographic variables (age, years of education, gender) and family history of dementia did not predict future cognitive decline. Greater fMRI activity, absence of an APOE ε4 allele, and larger hippocampal volume were associated with reduced likelihood of cognitive decline. The most effective combination of predictors involved fMRI brain activity and APOE ε4 status. Brain activity measured from task-activated fMRI, in combination with APOE ε4 status, was successful in identifying cognitively intact individuals at greatest risk for developing cognitive decline over a relatively brief time period. These results have implications for enriching prevention clinical trials designed to slow AD progression.

Author List

Woodard JL, Seidenberg M, Nielson KA, Smith JC, Antuono P, Durgerian S, Guidotti L, Zhang Q, Butts A, Hantke N, Lancaster M, Rao SM

Authors

Piero G. Antuono MD Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Alissa Butts PhD Associate Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Kristy Nielson PhD Professor in the Psychology department at Marquette University

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Apolipoprotein E4
Cognition Disorders
Female
Hippocampus
Humans
Logistic Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuropsychological Tests
Organ Size
Risk Factors