Factors associated with conversion to mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's
disease in persons with subjective memory complaints
 
   Lead Investigator:    Sangwoo Ahn
   Institution      :    University of Minnesota,Twin Cities
   E-Mail           :    sahn7@utk.edu
   Proposal ID      :    957


   Publications:


1  Ahn S, Mathiason M, Yu F
   Factors associated with clinical progression in subjective cognitive decline
   2019   Abstract  AAIC 2019 , 

   PRESENTED





   Proposal Description:
   The rising prevalence of dementia is a global health issue. Among all kinds  of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type. Clinical trials  continue to target earlier stages of AD due to a concern that later  intervention might not effectively slow progression because of established  pathological burden. Early intervention can prevent or delay the onset of  clinical dementia. Subjective memory complaints (SMC) could serve as a  potential target population for early intervention trials.           SMC, a self-reported persistent memory decline in the absence of objective  cognitive impairment, has been associated with an increased risk of incident  AD. Older people with SMC but preserved cognition are reported to be twice as  likely to develop dementia as individuals without SMC. It may serve as a  harbinger of future cognitive impairment.                      However, SMC itself cannot be sufficient to explain a path to future AD  onset. For example, since cognitive complaints are heterogeneous and their  expression could be affected by various factors (e.g., normal aging), SMC is  not necessarily present in all preclinical stage of AD. Indeed, the combination  of SMC and AD biomarkers has also proved to be the strong predictors of  clinical progression from normal to MCI and AD.                  A set of particular features has been proposed by SCD-I (subjective  cognitive decline initiative) that could be helpful to identify individuals at  risk of clinical progression (i.e., that may increase the likelihood of  preclinical AD in persons with SCD). However, they are based on the current  available small empirical basis, so not only do these need further validation,  but they are also subject to change if needed.                  On top of that, there are known risk factors of MCI or AD in cognitively  normal persons, which includes demographic, genetic, comorbidity, and life  style characteristics. However, relatively few studies have examined the