IC‐P‐031: Memory impairment is associated with hippocampal atrophy in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Cognitive impairment, including impairment of episodic, declarative memory, is frequently found in newly diagnosed PD. Previous analyses of the Parkwest neurocognitive data showed recognition memory deficitas well as a deficit of free and cued recall. We recently reported that newly diagnosed drug-Naïve PD subjects without cognitive impairment (PDCN) have significantly smaller hippocampi relative to normal controls (NC). Here we investigated whether hippocampal atrophy correlates with deficient memory encoding, retention, recognition and free recall. We analyzed the baseline T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging data of 114 PDCN, 29 PD subjects with mild cognitive impairment (PDMCI) and 99 NC from the Norwegian Parkwest study. In our hippocampal analyses we used automated hippocampal segmentation and the radial distance technique. Long-delay free recall was assessed with delayed recall of CVLT list A. D-prime, a measure of recognition adjusted for false positive hit rate, was computed. Using the NC data we computed age- and education-predicted CVLT long-delay free recall and D-prime scores and calculated the difference between actual and predicted scores in the PD cohort.This score difference was regressed against hippocampal radial distance while adjusting for center. For multiple comparison correction we used permutations with threshold p<0.01. Lower then expected CVLT delayed free recall scores showed a significant association with hippocampal atrophy in the CA1, CA3 and subiculum area (left p=0,0013 and right p=0,0082). After excluding the PDMCI subjects the association remained significant on the right (p=0.033) but became trend on the left (p=0.068). Lower than expected CVLT D-prime scores showed a significant association with right-sided hippocampal atrophy of the subiculum and the CA1 area in the full PD sample (p=0.043) and trend-level association in PDCN only (0.076) [Figure 1]. Impaired performance on delayed free recall and recognition is associated with bilateral hippocampal atrophy in newly diagnosed drug-Naïve PD patients These findings are in agreement with our hypotheses. At time of diagnosis PD subjects already show structural changes of the hippocampus which are associated with memory performance. Significance maps of the associations between CVLT long-delayed free recall score and O-prime with hippocamal radial distance in the full PO sample and the POCN group.
Source: Alzheimer s & Dementia
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2024690050