Significant risk of dementia in shunt-responsive idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus

Abstract

early stage of Alzheimer’s disease (14 men and 22 women) and 14 normal controls. All subjects were assessed with neuropsychological tests and with magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5. We performed cortical thickness analysis using surface-based morphometry method of magnetic resonance imaging. Results: A t baseline, there were no differences in the cortical thickness between men and women with AD. However, over 5 years longitudinal follow-up, women with AD showed more rapid cortical thinning in the left prefrontal cortex, bilateral medial frontal cortex, bilateral tempo-parietal association cortex, and bilateral lateral temporal lobe, compared to men with AD. In contrast, there were no regions of significant rapid atrophy in men with AD. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that the women deteriorate faster in terms of cortical thickness than men in the AD progression, which might be related to cognitive reserve theory.