Associations of brain amyloid load with clinical characteristics in an older general population without dementia
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia.It affects memory, behavior, cognition and ultimately daily life activities.Pathological features of AD include cerebral neuronal loss, intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular amyloid plaques.These abnormal changes start to occur years before the symptoms begins to appear.Most studies have so far investigated the role of amyloid status on brain PET scans in individuals who already have cognitive impairment or dementia.The aim of this study was to evaluate associations between brain amyloid status and cognitive performance in an at-risk population without dementia or substantial cognitive impairment.From the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) main study, 48 individuals participated in the 11 C-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-PET exploratory sub-study.PET scans were assessed visually by two experienced readers based on the regional patterns of PiB retention.A comprehensive cognitive test battery was used to assess the cognitive performance.Results from this thesis suggest that positive amyloid status is likely to reduce cognitive abilities over time.APOE genotype was strongly associated with amyloid status but no other factors had significant relation with amyloid positivity.High percentage of amyloid positive individuals showed successful recruitment of participants at risk for dementia.However, future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow up period will be needed to further investigate the impact of amyloid accumulation in people with normal cognition.
Author: Hossain, Gazi
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6998781230