A lay summary written by Ludmila Kucikova, reviewed by Dr Liam Knox and a dementia lay panel
Background:
Mild Cognitive Impairment is the early stage of memory loss or loss of other cognitive abilities. Cognition refers to how we perceive the world, how we think, or how we experience our emotions. Some individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment progress to develop forms of dementia, for example, Alzheimer’s Disease.
People with Mild Cognitive Impairment often experience neuropsychiatric symptoms such as problems with mood, depression, irritability, sleep impairment, or hallucinations. The occurrence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Mild Cognitive Impairment is linked with increased chances to develop Alzheimer’s Disease later in life. Whether there is some link between those symptoms, progression to Alzheimer’s Disease and brain changes observed on brain scans is still unclear.
Why is the study important?
Neuropsychiatric symptoms occurring in Mild Cognitive Impairment can cause distress and worsen the quality of life of both patients and their caregivers. The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between neuropsychiatric symptoms in Mild Cognitive Impairment and changes in the brain that could be related to AD. Increasing our understanding of this relationship is important in order to monitor who progresses to develop AD.
What did the authors do and how did they do it?
The authors used a public database of brain scans to conduct the analysis. They selected brain scans from 233 people with Mild Cognitive Impairment and 305 healthy individuals with the same ages and gender. They also selected other necessary information such as medical history and the results of neuropsychological tests. To look at the neuropsychological state, the authors used a test called the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire which is often used to check whether symptoms occur in people with dementia and if so, how often.
What are the results?
The results showed that 61.4% of patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment had at least one neuropsychiatric symptom, for example, depression, irritability or sleep problems. Patients who had neuropsychiatric symptoms also had some areas of the brain smaller than patients who did not have neuropsychiatric symptoms. Some of those areas included the orbitofrontal cortex, which is a brain area responsible for the relationship between emotion, attention, and cognitive control. Another brain area with a smaller size was the posterior cingulate cortex, which is an area that is one of the first areas to have functional damage in Alzheimer’s Disease.
What do the findings mean going forward for people with the disease?
These findings mean that people with MCI who have some neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression are also likely to have brain-related changes similar to those in AD. Understanding this relationship can help scientists in better understanding which individuals with MCI might progress to develop AD, and developing better-suited treatment.
This study can be found at www….
https://doi.org/10.1017/S104161022200117X
Paper title
Neuropsychiatric symptoms and their neural correlates in individuals with mild cognitive impairment
Author list
De Lucia, Natascia, Giovanni Carbone, Benedetta Muzii, Nicola Ferrara, Giuseppe Rengo, Nelson Mauro Maldonato, Grazia Daniela Femminella, and Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
Publication details including date of publication.
De Lucia, N., Carbone, G., Muzii, B., Ferrara, N., Rengo, G., Maldonato, N. M., … & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2023). Neuropsychiatric symptoms and their neural correlates in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. International Psychogeriatrics, 1-10. Published: January 30, 2023