Introduction Patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) often go on to develop dementia, however many do not. Although cognitive tests are widely used in the clinic, there is limited research on their potential to help predict which patients may progress to Alzheimer's disease (AD) from those that do not.Methods MCI patients (n = 325) from the longitudinal Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI-2) dataset were tracked across a 5 year period. Upon initial diagnosis, all patients underwent a series of cognitive tests including the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADAS-Cog 13). Twenty-five percent (n = 83) of those initially diagnosed with MCI subsequently developed AD within 5 years.Results We showed that those individuals that progressed to AD had significantly lower scores upon baseline testing on the MMSE and MoCA, and higher scores on the ADAS-13, compared to those that did not convert. However, not all tests were equivalent. We showed that the ADAS-13 offers the best predictability of conversion (Adjusted Odds ratio (AOR) = 3.91). This predictability was higher than that offered by the two primary biomarker Amyloid-beta (Aβ, AOR = 1.99) and phospho-tau (Ptau, AOR = 1.72). Further analysis on the ADAS-13 showed that MCI patients that subsequently converted to AD performed particularly poorly on delayed-recall (AOR = 1.93), word recognition (AOR = 1.66), word finding difficulty (AOR = 1.55) and orientation (1.38) test items.Conclusions Cognitive testing using the ADAS-13 may offer a simpler, less invasive, more clinically relevant and a more effective method of determining those that are in danger of converting from MCI to AD.
The Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland resulted in a nationwide lockdown on March 27, 2020. Previous studies have focused on the mental health issues surrounding lockdown in Ireland, but this study examines how the restrictions impacted attention levels across gender, work status, and age. We also investigated whether this impact translates into deficits in daily activities, such as driving and navigation. Self-report data were collected online from a healthy Irish sample ( N = 178) between May 2020 and February 2021. Younger adults, particularly females, reported higher impact on attention, navigation and driving skills. Those working from home had difficulty focusing on work. Driving and navigation impacts were strongly associated with impact on attention. Impacts on daily activities were not universally felt and depended on work status and location, but not exercise rates. Screening for certain cognitive deficits may provide a greater understanding of the mental health issues faced in Ireland and abroad during the pandemic.
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