Rapidly progressive dementia

 
   Lead Investigator:    Giuseppe Tosto
   Institution      :    Columbia
   E-Mail           :    gt2260@cumc.columbia.edu
   Proposal ID      :    394



   Proposal Description:
   Decline in MMSE scores over short-time intervals (i.e., 6 months) is associated with increased risk of mortality. A recent study, based on extensive review of previous studies, suggested that a decline of 6 points/year should be used as the optimal threshold to define rapidly progressive AD. Regardless of the threshold chosen, the value of this approach is that it clusters patients within discrete classes of progression, which is ideal for clinical practice, rather than investigating the continuous distribution of progression, which  is important for understanding the natural disease course but is difficult to apply to individuals seen in a clinical setting.The purpose of this study was to examine clinical and neuropathological features of rapid decline in AD   1)Measuring  clinically-defined categorical changes in MMSE scores over time  2)Through new statistical approach without a priori cut-offs (e.g., latent analyses)   We hypothesized that rapid progressive AD has peculiar clinical and neuropathological features, defining  a distinct sub-phenotype that could contribute to disentangle the heterogeneity of AD.