Adrià Tort-Merino1, Natalia Valech1, Matti Laine2, Jaume Olives1, María León1, Mirian Ecay-Torres3, Ainara Estanga3, Pablo Martínez-Lage3, Juan Fortea4,5, José Luis Molinuevo1,6, Raquel Sánchez-Valle1,7, Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells8,9,10, Lorena Rami1,7. 1. Alzheimer's Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit, Neurology Service, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain. 2. Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. 3. Neurología, Fundación CITA-Alzhéimer Fundazioa, Centro de Investigación y Terapias Avanzadas, San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, Spain. 4. Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Institute of Biomedical Research, Barcelona, Spain. 5. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, CIBERNED, Madrid, Spain. 6. Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, Spain. 7. August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain. 8. Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute-IDIBELL, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. 9. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain. 10. Department of Cognition, Development and Education Psychology, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: We studied a sample of cognitively unimpaired individuals, with and without subjective cognitive decline (SCD), in order to investigate accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) and to explore the relationships between objective and subjective cognitive performance and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. METHODS: Fifty-two individuals were included and SCD was quantified through the Subjective Cognitive Decline Questionnaire (SCD-Q), using its validated cutoff to classify participants as Low SCD-Q (n = 21) or High SCD-Q (n = 31). These groups were further subdivided according to the presence or absence of abnormal levels of CSF Aβ42 . Objective cognitive performance was assessed with the Ancient Farming Equipment Test (AFE-T), a new highly-demanding test that calls for acquisition and retention of novel object/name pairs and allows measuring ALF over a 6-month period. RESULTS: The High SCD-Q group showed a significantly higher free forgetting rate at 3 months compared to the Low SCD-Q (F [1,44] = 4.72; p < 0.05). When stratifying by amyloid status, High SCD-Q/Aβ+ showed a significantly lower performance than High SCD-Q/Aβ-on the final free and cued learning scores (F [1,27] = 6.44, p < 0.05 and F [1,27] = 7.51, p < 0.05, respectively), the 1-week free and cued recall (F [1,24] = 4.49; p < 0.05 and F [1,24] = 7.10; p < 0.01, respectively), the 1-week cued forgetting rate (F [1,24] = 5.13; p < 0.05), and the 3-month cued recall (F [1,24] = 4.27; p < 0.05). Linear regression analyses showed that higher SCD-Q scores were associated with higher forgetting rates on the AFE-T (β = -0.212; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to detect ALF in individuals with high SCD ratings, appearing especially in those with abnormal CSF Aβ42 levels. Both in research and the clinical field, there is an increasing need of using more demanding cognitive measures, such as the AFE-T, for identifying and tracking the earliest cognitive changes in these populations.
OBJECTIVES: We studied a sample of cognitively unimpaired individuals, with and without subjective cognitive decline (SCD), in order to investigate accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) and to explore the relationships between objective and subjective cognitive performance and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. METHODS: Fifty-two individuals were included and SCD was quantified through the Subjective Cognitive Decline Questionnaire (SCD-Q), using its validated cutoff to classify participants as Low SCD-Q (n = 21) or High SCD-Q (n = 31). These groups were further subdivided according to the presence or absence of abnormal levels of CSF Aβ42 . Objective cognitive performance was assessed with the Ancient Farming Equipment Test (AFE-T), a new highly-demanding test that calls for acquisition and retention of novel object/name pairs and allows measuring ALF over a 6-month period. RESULTS: The High SCD-Q group showed a significantly higher free forgetting rate at 3 months compared to the Low SCD-Q (F [1,44] = 4.72; p < 0.05). When stratifying by amyloid status, High SCD-Q/Aβ+ showed a significantly lower performance than High SCD-Q/Aβ-on the final free and cued learning scores (F [1,27] = 6.44, p < 0.05 and F [1,27] = 7.51, p < 0.05, respectively), the 1-week free and cued recall (F [1,24] = 4.49; p < 0.05 and F [1,24] = 7.10; p < 0.01, respectively), the 1-week cued forgetting rate (F [1,24] = 5.13; p < 0.05), and the 3-month cued recall (F [1,24] = 4.27; p < 0.05). Linear regression analyses showed that higher SCD-Q scores were associated with higher forgetting rates on the AFE-T (β = -0.212; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to detect ALF in individuals with high SCD ratings, appearing especially in those with abnormal CSF Aβ42 levels. Both in research and the clinical field, there is an increasing need of using more demanding cognitive measures, such as the AFE-T, for identifying and tracking the earliest cognitive changes in these populations.
Authors: Young Min Choe; Guk-Hee Suh; Boung Chul Lee; Ihn-Geun Choi; Jun Ho Lee; Hyun Soo Kim; Jaeuk Hwang; Jee Wook Kim Journal: Front Neurosci Date: 2022-07-04 Impact factor: 5.152