Effect of education on functional network edge efficiency in Alzheimer\u2019s disease

Yeshin Kim,Duk L Na,Jin San Lee,Si Eun Kim,Sung Tae Kim,Joon-Kyung Seong,Hee Jin Kim,Sung-Woo Kim,Ko Woon Kim,Seung Joo Kim,Sang Won Seo,Hyemin Jang,Soo Hyun Cho

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-96361-0

Abstract

We investigated the effect of education on the edge efficiency in resting state functional networks (RSFNs) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD). We collected the data of 57 early aMCI, 141 late aMCI, 173 mild ADD, and 39 moderate-to-severe ADD patients. We used years of education as a proxy for cognitive reserve. We measured edge efficiency for each edge in RSFNs, and performed simple slope analyses to discover their associations with education level among the four groups. In the late aMCI, a sub-network that had hub nodes in the right middle frontal gyrus and the right posterior cingulate gyrus, showed a positive association between RSFN edge efficiency and education (threshold = 2.5, p = 0.0478). There was no negative effect of education on the RSFN edge efficiency. In the early aMCI, mild ADD, and moderate-to-severe ADD, there were no sub-networks showing positive or negative correlation between education and RSFN edge efficiency. There was a positive effect of higher education on RSFN edge efficiency in the late aMCI, but not in the early aMCI or ADD. This indicates that in late aMCI, those who have higher education level have greater ability to resist collapsed functional network.

Highlights

We investigated the effect of education on the edge efficiency in resting state functional networks (RSFNs) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD)
Years of education was higher in the late amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) group (11.2 ± 4.8) than in the mild ADD group (8.9 ± 5.6)
Cognitive function of all domain was worst in patients with moderateto-severe ADD followed by mild ADD and aMCI

Summary

Introduction

We investigated the effect of education on the edge efficiency in resting state functional networks (RSFNs) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD). In the early aMCI, mild ADD, and moderate-to-severe ADD, there were no sub-networks showing positive or negative correlation between education and RSFN edge efficiency. There was a positive effect of higher education on RSFN edge efficiency in the late aMCI, but not in the early aMCI or ADD. In AD dementia (ADD), patients with higher CR were reported to be associated with higher Aβ, lower glucose m etabolism[3,4,5,6] and more severe cortical a trophy[7,8,9] This may imply that patients with higher CR cope better with certain pathologic burdens and maintain their cognition. We investigated the effect of CR on RSFN edge efficiency in each cognitive level: early aMCI, late aMCI, mild ADD, and moderate-to-severe ADD

Methods

Results

Conclusion