F1‐01‐03: ONLINE STUDY‐PARTNER‐REPORTED SUBJECTIVE DECLINE IS ASSOCIATED WITH β‐AMYLOID AND CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: It is critical that individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) be accurately identified. Functional decline is associated with AD risk and can be collected efficiently from study partners (SPs). Our goal was to determine the ability of online SP-reported functional decline, compared to self-report decline and other variables, to identify AD risk in a population with known memory impairments. Older adults with cognitive impairments (n=568) enrolled in both the Imaging Dementia–Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (IDEAS) study, and the Brain Health Registry. We measured associations between online variables and (1) clinically-confirmed diagnosis of MCI or AD; or (2) brain β-amyloid (Aβ) burden obtained from visual reads of Aβ PET scans. Online variables included SP- and self-reported Everyday Cognition Scale (ECog) as a measure of subjective decline, Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) as an objective measure of cognition, and participant demographics. Relative strength of predictors was assessed by comparing likelihood ratios of models with and without predictors included. SP-report ECog score was associated with participants’ Aβ status (OR= 1.07, CI=1.03−1.13, p=0.003), and diagnosis (OR= 2.27, CI=1.45−3.70, p <0.001). Self-report ECog was not associated with any outcome. The association between SP-report ECog and Aβ was significantly stronger in spouse dyads (p= 0.05) and those who live together (p = 0.02). CBB scores for each cognitive domain measured (processing speed, attention, memory, learning) were significantly associated with Aβ and diagnosis. In models including SP- and self- report ECog, CBB learning/memory scores, and demographics as predictors: (1) both SP-report ECog (p=0.05) and CBB scores (p=0.01) were significantly associated with Aβ; (2) only SP-report ECog (p=0.003) was associated with diagnosis. Models excluding SP-report ECog had significantly lower predictive power than those with SP-report ECog for predicting Aβ (p = 0.05) and diagnosis (p = 0.01). Functional decline reported by a SP is an independent indicator of AD risk, even after accounting for cognition, demographics, and self-report decline. The results support a greater utilization of SP-reported functional decline to identify those at risk for or with AD, and also support the validity of online subjective decline measures for use in AD research.
Source: Alzheimer s & Dementia
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2981024370