Modeling the progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease with PET-based Braak staging

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) correlate with tau deposition in the brain. Here, we investigated the association of PET-based Braak stages with NPS and assessed whether they predict annual changes in NPS. We evaluated 231 individuals in the aging and AD continuum. Parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Macedo, Arthur C., Zimmer, Eduardo Rigon, Rosa Neto, Pedro
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2024
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Repository:Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:www.lume.ufrgs.br:10183/282174
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10183/282174
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Doenças neurodegenerativas
Doença de Alzheimer
Demência
Proteínas tau
Emaranhados neurofibrilares
Alzheimer’s disease
Positron emission tomography
Neuropsychiatric symptom
Neurofibrillary tangles
Braak staging
Dementia
Description
Summary:In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) correlate with tau deposition in the brain. Here, we investigated the association of PET-based Braak stages with NPS and assessed whether they predict annual changes in NPS. We evaluated 231 individuals in the aging and AD continuum. Participants were assigned a Braak stage at baseline and followed for 1.97 (s.d. 0.62) years. NPS were investigated using the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire severity (NPI-Q-S) and distress (NPI-Q-D) scales. Multiple linear regressions (MLR) assessed the association of Braak stages with baseline NPS and the annual change in NPS scores. At baseline, stages I-II, III-IV, and V-VI were associated with higher MBI-C, NPI-Q-S, and NPI-Q-D scores. Stages V-VI were associated with a significant annual increase in MBI-C scores. These findings suggest that tau accumulation may manifest clinically with an increase in NPS, which seems to be an early event in AD pathophysiology. Moreover, PET-based Braak staging appears to be a good predictor of NPS severity progression.