Progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease: Improved Diagnostic Value of the Combined Use of N200 Latency and β-Amyloid(1–42) Levels

• Published in: Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 30 - 35
• Main Authors: Papaliagkas, V.T., Anogianakis, G., Tsolaki, M.N., Koliakos, G., Kimiskidis, V.K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland Karger 01.01.2009
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - blood; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Amyloid beta-Peptides - cerebrospinal fluid; Amyloidosis; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers; Cognition Disorders - blood; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology; Disease Progression; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Original Research Article; Other metabolic disorders; Peptide Fragments - cerebrospinal fluid; β-Amyloid(1ߝ42); Mild cognitive impairment; N200 latency; Auditory event-related potentials; Alzheimerߣs disease; Nervous system diseases; Cognitive disorder; Alzheimer disease; Cerebral disorder; β-Amyloid(1-42); Central nervous system disease; mild cognitive impairment; Degenerative disease; Diagnosis; Event evoked potential; Alzheimer's disease
• ISSN: 1420-8008; 1421-9824
• DOI: 10.1159/000229023

Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of cerebrospinal fluid β-amyloid(1–42) levels and auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) in the progress of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: In 53 MCI patients, lumbar puncture was performed and β-amyloid(1–42) levels were determined. Twenty patients were reexamined after 11 months. During this period, 5 of them progressed to AD. Neuropsychological and ERP analyses were performed on all patients during both baseline and endpoint examinations. Results: Compared to stable MCI patients, those that progressed to AD had significantly lower β-amyloid(1–42) levels (Mann-Whitney test, Z = –2.952, p = 0.003; effect size r = –0.41) and significantly prolonged N200 latencies (Mann-Whitney test, Z = –3.561, p < 0.001, effect size r = –0.49). From ERP variables, only the N200 latency significantly correlated with β-amyloid(1–42) levels (baseline examination: r s = –0.421, p = 0.002; follow-up examination: r s = –0.574, p = 0.008). Conclusions: The combined use of these two parameters enabled discrimination of stable MCI patients from those who developed AD, with 100% sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, this method could be of high diagnostic value for the early diagnosis of AD.