Michael Guhra1, Christine Thomas2, Sebastian Boedeker3, Stefan Kreisel3, Martin Driessen3, Thomas Beblo3, Patricia Ohrmann4, Max Toepper3. 1. Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Remterweg 69-71, D-33617 Bielefeld, Germany. Electronic address: Michael.Guhra@evkb.de. 2. Clinical Centre Stuttgart, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy for the Elderly, Prießnitzweg 24, D-70374 Stuttgart, Germany. 3. Evangelisches Krankenhaus Bielefeld, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Bethel, Remterweg 69-71, D-33617 Bielefeld, Germany. 4. University of Muenster, Department of Psychiatry, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, D-48149 Muenster, Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Memory and executive deficits are important cognitive markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, in the past decade, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers have been increasingly utilized in clinical practice. Both cognitive and CSF markers can be used to differentiate between AD patients and healthy seniors with high diagnostic accuracy. However, the extent to which performance on specific mnemonic or executive tasks enables reliable estimations of the concentrations of different CSF markers and their ratios remains unclear. METHODS: To address the above issues, we examined the association between neuropsychological data and CSF biomarkers in 51 AD patients using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. In the first step of these analyses, age, education and sex were entered as predictors to control for possible confounding effects. In the second step, data from a neuropsychological test battery assessing episodic memory, semantic memory and executive functioning were included to determine whether these variables significantly increased (compared to step 1) the explained variance in Aβ42 concentration, p-tau concentration, t-tau concentration, Aβ42/t-tau ratio, and Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio. RESULTS: The different models explained 52% of the variance in Aβ42/t-tau ratio, 27% of the variance in Aβ42 concentration, and 28% of the variance in t-tau concentration. In particular, Aβ42/t-tau ratio was associated with verbal recognition and code shifting, with Aβ42 being related to verbal recognition and t-tau being related to code shifting. By contrast, the inclusion of neuropsychological data did not allow reliable estimations of Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio or p-tau concentration. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that strong associations exist between the cognitive key symptoms of AD and the concentrations and ratios of specific CSF markers. In addition, we revealed a specific combination of neuropsychological tests that may facilitate reliable estimations of CSF concentrations, thereby providing important diagnostic information for non-invasive early AD detection.
OBJECTIVES: Memory and executive deficits are important cognitive markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, in the past decade, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers have been increasingly utilized in clinical practice. Both cognitive and CSF markers can be used to differentiate between ADpatients and healthy seniors with high diagnostic accuracy. However, the extent to which performance on specific mnemonic or executive tasks enables reliable estimations of the concentrations of different CSF markers and their ratios remains unclear. METHODS: To address the above issues, we examined the association between neuropsychological data and CSF biomarkers in 51 ADpatients using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. In the first step of these analyses, age, education and sex were entered as predictors to control for possible confounding effects. In the second step, data from a neuropsychological test battery assessing episodic memory, semantic memory and executive functioning were included to determine whether these variables significantly increased (compared to step 1) the explained variance in Aβ42 concentration, p-tau concentration, t-tau concentration, Aβ42/t-tau ratio, and Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio. RESULTS: The different models explained 52% of the variance in Aβ42/t-tau ratio, 27% of the variance in Aβ42 concentration, and 28% of the variance in t-tau concentration. In particular, Aβ42/t-tau ratio was associated with verbal recognition and code shifting, with Aβ42 being related to verbal recognition and t-tau being related to code shifting. By contrast, the inclusion of neuropsychological data did not allow reliable estimations of Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio or p-tau concentration. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that strong associations exist between the cognitive key symptoms of AD and the concentrations and ratios of specific CSF markers. In addition, we revealed a specific combination of neuropsychological tests that may facilitate reliable estimations of CSF concentrations, thereby providing important diagnostic information for non-invasive early AD detection.
Authors: Unnur D Teitsdottir; Maria K Jonsdottir; Sigrun H Lund; Taher Darreh-Shori; Jon Snaedal; Petur H Petersen Journal: Alzheimers Res Ther Date: 2020-08-04 Impact factor: 6.982