Cognitive and behavioural predictors of Alzheimer's disease progression

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be thought of as divided into pre- and post-diagnostic phases. There is evidence that cognitive and behavioural traits influence the risk of AD diagnosis. Following diagnosis, it may be difficult to tangle the causal direction between cognitive and behavioural measures as predictors or manifestations of AD progress, though people with higher lifetime cognitive trait scores appear to be protected somewhat against worsening cognitive scores and behavioural changes. The pre-diagnostic phase can be considered as a state where AD neuropathology is progressing without manifestations of this and a prodromal phase where, typically, episodic memory is impaired. Far fewer data exist that inform about the effects of cognitive or behavioural predictors during this phase, though those from large brain tissue bank collaborations indicate that education, a correlate of cognitive function, does not influence the extent of neuropathology.