Small World derived index to distinguish Alzheimer’s type dementia and healthy subjects

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 53; no. 6
• Main Authors: Vecchio, Fabrizio, Miraglia, Francesca, Pappalettera, Chiara, Nucci, Lorenzo, Cacciotti, Alessia, Rossini, Paolo Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.06.2024
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer Disease - psychology; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Waves; Case-Control Studies; Electroencephalography; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Research Paper; older people; electroencephalographic (EEG); Small World; graph theory; Alzheimer’s; neurorehabilitation
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afae121

This article introduces a novel index aimed at uncovering specific brain connectivity patterns associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), defined according to neuropsychological patterns. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of 370 people, including 170 healthy subjects and 200 mild-AD patients, were acquired in different clinical centres using different acquisition equipment by harmonising acquisition settings. The study employed a new derived Small World (SW) index, SWcomb, that serves as a comprehensive metric designed to integrate the seven SW parameters, computed across the typical EEG frequency bands. The objective is to create a unified index that effectively distinguishes individuals with a neuropsychological pattern compatible with AD from healthy ones. Results showed that the healthy group exhibited the lowest SWcomb values, while the AD group displayed the highest SWcomb ones. These findings suggest that SWcomb index represents an easy-to-perform, low-cost, widely available and non-invasive biomarker for distinguishing between healthy individuals and AD patients.