The risk of cognitive impairment in spouses of patients with cognitive impairment

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundWe aimed to investigate demographics, neuropsychological performance, and amyloid pathology in spouses of people with cognitive impairment.MethodA total of 30 patients and 30 spouse controls were enrolled in a prospective cohort for Alzheimer’s disease between June 2018 and December 2020. All subjects had a comprehensive interview, laboratory findings, formal neuropsychological test battery, brain computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and 18F‐ Florbetaben positron emission tomography (FBB PET).ResultThere were no differences in age, sex, education level, family history of dementia, and vascular risk factors between the patient group and spouse group. APOE e4 carriers were more common in the patient group (40.0%) than in the spouse group (10.0%). Although none of the spouses complained of impaired cognition, 40.0% of them were shown to have mild cognitive impairment. Visual analysis of FBB PET showed that 24.1 % of spouses showed amyloid deposition.ConclusionForty percent of spouses of people with cognitive impairment showed mild cognitive impairment and about 24% of them had amyloid pathology. This finding implicates high risk of cognitive impairment in spouses of people with cognitive impairment, which may be associated with shared environmental factors and psychosocial burden as a caregiver. Early diagnosis and intervention for spouses of people with cognitive impairment may be necessary for both patients and spouses. In the future, further investigations in a larger cohort is warranted to confirm findings from this study.