Handwriting Changes in Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Medical Research

Background:

• Handwriting is a complex motor and cognitive function.
• Alzheimer's disease (AD) significantly impairs fine motor skills and cognitive processes.
• Understanding handwriting changes in AD is crucial for early detection and patient management.

Approach:

• Systematic review of 91 articles from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science.
• Analysis focused on motor, visuospatial, and linguistic features of handwriting in AD.
• Adherence to PRISMA guidelines for rigorous study selection and review.

Key Points:

• Handwriting impairment in AD affects all motor-cognitive levels, with text more impacted than signatures.
• Visuospatial and linguistic features show greater deterioration than motor aspects.
• Established motor findings include increased variability, longer durations, and reduced fluency; pressure and velocity show conflicting results.

Conclusions:

• Conflicting findings necessitate re-evaluation of motor, general, and linguistic handwriting features in AD.
• Further research on AD signatures and the impact of AD variants on handwriting is warranted.
• Handwriting analysis holds potential for early AD detection, patient monitoring, and forensic applications.