Performance-Based Functional Status Predicts Diffuse Cortical Atrophy in Alzheimer's Disease

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Geriatrics

Background:

• Cognitive impairment and dementia significantly impact functional ability.
• Understanding the relationship between brain structure and function is crucial for early detection and intervention.
• Cortical thickness is a key neuroimaging biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare performance-based functional ability and cognitive screening performance in relation to cortical thickness.
• To compare performance-based and proxy-evaluated functional ability and their cerebral white and gray matter correlates.
• To investigate the association between different measures of functional ability and cortical thickness in cognitively unimpaired elders, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia patients.

Main Methods:

• Inclusion of 22 cognitively unimpaired (CN), 32 MCI, and 21 dementia patients.
• Utilized Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for brain assessment.
• Administered Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test (RAVLT), Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (ADL-Q), and Direct Assessment of Functional Status-Revised (DAFS-R).

Main Results:

• Higher ADL-Q scores correlated with reduced cortical thickness in temporoparietal regions.
• DAFS-R scores showed a relationship with greater cortical thickness across frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices.
• MMSE scores were focally associated with medial and lateral temporal and inferior parietal regions.

Conclusions:

• Functional independence (ADL-Q) is linked to frontal and parietal cortical thickness.
• DAFS-R scores provide a more diffuse measure of cortical atrophy.
• Performance-based functional abilities (DAFS-R) are stronger markers of cortical thickness than ADL-Q and MMSE.