Cognitive and Noncognitive Spectrum Mental Impairments in First-Degree Relatives of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Cognitive and noncognitive spectrum impairments were studied in first-degree relatives of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A total of 134 relatives (mean age 47.6 years) were studied, of which 110 were children of probands and 24 were sisters or brothers. A high incidence of cognitive and noncognitive spectrum mental impairments was found in relatives of AD patients, and this was greater than the incidence in the control group (22 people who did not have relatives with AD). The relatives group showed twice the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (difficulty assimilating new information and impaired concentration of attention on tiring) than controls, with a 1.4-fold greater incidence of difficulty recalling distant events. Alzheimer’s phobia, and signs of irritable weakness were significantly more frequent. Signs of constitutional cognitive deficit were present in the history 2–4 times as commonly; signs of two or three different types of cognitive deficit were present 3–4 times more frequently. There was a 3.4-fold increase in combinations of signs of communicating hydrocephalus with MRI signs of cerebrovascular pathology. Information on these mental impairments of the cognitive and noncognitive spectra in first-degree relatives of AD patients may be of value as the basis of corrective and rehabilitative measures for the prophylaxis of progressive cognitive deficit.