Can basic magnetic resonance imaging along with neuropsychological assessment be used as a cost-effective means for the detection of early dementia in the Indian sub-continent?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: The mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage occurs sporadically between healthy aging and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). MCI shows significant defacement in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain along with neuropsychological and behavioral parameters. Aim: Assessment of neuropsychological, behavioral, and structural MRI changes in MCI and their relation with each other. Methodology: Seventy-eight participants in the MCI group and healthy controls (HC) were assessed using Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE), Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR); and behavioral assessment by using Behavioral Pathology In AD (BEHAVE-AD). MRI brain volumetric analysis was performed using the software MYRIAN. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann–Whitney U test, unpaired t-test (P = <0.05), and Spearman’s rank correlation. Results: MCI group showed significant impairments in ACE, MMSE, and CDR and significantly higher behavioral symptoms on BEHAVE-AD. Episodic memory had a significant positive correlation with normalized right hippocampal volume and total intracranial volume (TICV). Remote memory had a significant negative correlation with normalized left hippocampal volumes. Global CDR score had a moderately negative correlation with normalized right and left hippocampal volumes. Affective disturbances were negatively correlated with TICV. Conclusions: Comparable analysis of correctly scaled neuropsychological assessments may provide unbiased proxies for MRI-based measures of dementia risk.