David Q Beversdorf1,2, Haikady N Nagaraja3, Robert A Bornstein4, Douglas W Scharre2. 1. Departments of Radiology, Neurology, and Psychological Sciences, and the Thompson Center (William and Nancy Thompson Endowed Chair in Radiology), University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. 2. Departments of Neurology. 3. Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 4. Psychiatry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials involving individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have reported mixed results for the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors on cognitive outcomes. Our previous work demonstrated that a visuospatial problem-solving task was sensitive to non-memory impairments in individuals with MCI. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the same task is also sensitive to the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors in individuals with amnestic MCI (aMCI). METHOD: We gave 22 individuals with aMCI (clinical dementia rating of 0.5) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores of at least 24 the following measures at baseline and at follow-up 1 year later: Hopkins Verbal Learning Test, Boston Naming Test, Rey Complex Figures Test copying task, anagrams task, and visuospatial problem-solving task. The MMSE was also given at the 1-year follow-up. Twelve of the individuals were drug naïve, having never taken cholinesterase inhibitors before, and donepezil was initiated and titrated to 10 mg daily after baseline in an open-label manner. Ten of the individuals had already been taking donepezil, and there was no change in treatment. We compared the two groups for amount of performance change over 1 year. RESULTS: Individuals for whom donepezil was initiated performed significantly better on the visuospatial problem-solving task after 1 year compared with individuals who had already been taking donepezil. No difference was observed for any of the other variables. CONCLUSION: The visuospatial problem-solving task appeared to be more sensitive than memory measures to the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors in individuals with aMCI, perhaps due to the high attentional demand of the task.
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials involving individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have reported mixed results for the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors on cognitive outcomes. Our previous work demonstrated that a visuospatial problem-solving task was sensitive to non-memory impairments in individuals with MCI. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the same task is also sensitive to the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors in individuals with amnestic MCI (aMCI). METHOD: We gave 22 individuals with aMCI (clinical dementia rating of 0.5) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores of at least 24 the following measures at baseline and at follow-up 1 year later: Hopkins Verbal Learning Test, Boston Naming Test, Rey Complex Figures Test copying task, anagrams task, and visuospatial problem-solving task. The MMSE was also given at the 1-year follow-up. Twelve of the individuals were drug naïve, having never taken cholinesterase inhibitors before, and donepezil was initiated and titrated to 10 mg daily after baseline in an open-label manner. Ten of the individuals had already been taking donepezil, and there was no change in treatment. We compared the two groups for amount of performance change over 1 year. RESULTS: Individuals for whom donepezil was initiated performed significantly better on the visuospatial problem-solving task after 1 year compared with individuals who had already been taking donepezil. No difference was observed for any of the other variables. CONCLUSION: The visuospatial problem-solving task appeared to be more sensitive than memory measures to the effects of cholinesterase inhibitors in individuals with aMCI, perhaps due to the high attentional demand of the task.
Authors: Douglas W Scharre; Shu-Ing Chang; Robert A Murden; James Lamb; David Q Beversdorf; Maria Kataki; Haikady N Nagaraja; Robert A Bornstein Journal: Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord Date: 2010 Jan-Mar Impact factor: 2.703
Authors: Ronald C Petersen; Oscar Lopez; Melissa J Armstrong; Thomas S D Getchius; Mary Ganguli; David Gloss; Gary S Gronseth; Daniel Marson; Tamara Pringsheim; Gregory S Day; Mark Sager; James Stevens; Alexander Rae-Grant Journal: Neurology Date: 2017-12-27 Impact factor: 9.910
Authors: Ronald C Petersen; Ronald G Thomas; Michael Grundman; David Bennett; Rachelle Doody; Steven Ferris; Douglas Galasko; Shelia Jin; Jeffrey Kaye; Allan Levey; Eric Pfeiffer; Mary Sano; Christopher H van Dyck; Leon J Thal Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2005-04-13 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: David Q Beversdorf; Jennifer L W Ferguson; Ashleigh Hillier; Umesh K Sharma; Haikady N Nagaraja; Robert A Bornstein; Douglas W Scharre Journal: Cogn Behav Neurol Date: 2007-03 Impact factor: 1.600
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