Cognitive profiles of autopsy-confirmed LBV vs "pure" Alzheimer's disease

Date of Completion

January 2000

Keywords

Psychology, Clinical|Psychology, Physiological

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

Objective. To compare the cognitive profiles of patients with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, with or without concomitant Lewy body Pathology on two dementia screening measures. ^ Methods. Profiles on subtests of the Mattis Dementia rating scale (MDRS; range = 105–125 ) and of component items of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were compared between 23 patients with uncomplicated AD and 23 patients with concomitant AD and Lewy body pathology (LBV). ^ Results. Although the groups did not differ significantly in age, years of education, total Mini-Mental State Exam score or total MDRS score, the AD group performed significantly worse than the LBV group on the MDRS Memory subscale (p < .005). In contrast, the LBV group demonstrated poorer performance than the pure AD group on the Initiation/Perseveration subscale (p < .02). The groups did not differ significantly on the Attention, Construction or Conceptualization subscales. The same overall pattern of results were obtained when mildly-to-moderately and moderately-to-severely demented subgroups were examined separately, with the additional finding that in the mild-to-moderate range, demented LBV patients performed worse than AD patients on the Construction subscale. ^ Conclusions. The difference in pattern of deficits is similar to that seen between AD and more subcortical/frontal dementias (e.g., Huntington's Disease), suggesting that the concomitant Lewy Body pathology significantly contributes to the presentation of the LBV's cognitive dysfunction. ^

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