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Updated: Nov 8, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Alzheimer's Research – Exploring Early Detection and Multi-Omics Approaches
Published on: December 15, 2023
Classification of patients with Alzheimer's disease using the arterial pulse spectrum and a multilayer-perceptron
Shun-Ku Lin1,2,3, Hsin Hsiu4,5, Hsi-Sheng Chen6
1Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Insights
Arterial pulse wave analysis using multilayer perceptron (MLP) effectively distinguishes Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients from controls. This noninvasive method shows promise for early AD detection and monitoring vascular changes associated with the disease.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cardiovascular Science
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Cerebrovascular atherosclerosis is a key feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
- Vascular pathology in extracranial arteries may influence AD risk.
- Noninvasive methods are needed for AD detection and monitoring.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate arterial pulse-wave measurements and multilayer perceptron (MLP) analysis for distinguishing AD patients from controls.
- To investigate the relationship between vascular elastic properties and AD.
- To assess the potential for a noninvasive AD detection method.
Main Methods:
- Noninvasive measurement of radial blood pressure waveform (BPW) and finger photoplethysmography signals in 87 AD patients and 74 controls.
- Analysis of 40 harmonic pulse indices using a 5-layer MLP algorithm.
- Classification accuracy, specificity, and ROC curve analysis were performed.
Main Results:
- Significant differences in BPW indices were observed between AD patients and control subjects.
- Intergroup differences were significant across mild, moderate, and severe AD stages.
- MLP-based classification achieved 82.86% accuracy, 92.31% specificity, and 0.83 AUC.
Conclusions:
- Arterial pulse-wave analysis with MLP can effectively differentiate AD patients from controls.
- Findings suggest AD-induced changes in vascular elastic properties contribute to observed differences.
- This approach offers a potential noninvasive, rapid, and cost-effective method for AD detection and status monitoring.
Abstract:
Cerebrovascular atherosclerosis has been identified as a prominent pathological feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD); the link between vessel pathology and AD risk may also extend to extracranial arteries. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of using arterial pulse-wave measurements and multilayer perceptron (MLP) analysis in distinguishing between AD and control subjects. Radial blood pressure waveform (BPW) and finger photoplethysmography signals were measured noninvasively for 3 min in 87 AD patients and 74 control subjects. The 5-layer MLP algorithm employed evaluated the following 40 harmonic pulse indices: amplitude proportion and its coefficient of variation, and phase angle and its standard deviation. The BPW indices differed significantly between the AD patients (6247 pulses) and control subjects (6626 pulses). Significant intergroup differences were found between mild, moderate, and severe AD (defined by Mini-Mental-State-Examination scores). The hold-out test results indicated an accuracy of 82.86%, a specificity of 92.31%, and a 0.83 AUC of ROC curve when using the MLP-based classification between AD and Control. The identified differences can be partly attributed to AD-induced changes in vascular elastic properties. The present findings may be meaningful in facilitating the development of a noninvasive, rapid, inexpensive, and objective method for detecting and monitoring the AD status.
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