An experimental approach to detecting dementia in Down syndrome: A paradigm for Alzheimer’s disease

• Published in: Brain and cognition Vol. 64; no. 1; pp. 92 - 103
• Main Authors: Nelson, Linda D., Scheibel, Kevin E., Ringman, John M., Sayre, James W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.06.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adults; Affect; Aging; Aging (Individuals); Alzheimer Disease - complications; Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis; Alzheimers Disease; Alzheimer’s disease; Animals; At Risk Persons; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Chromosome aberrations; Clinical Diagnosis; Cognition; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Dementia; Down Syndrome; Down Syndrome - complications; Etiology; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Measures (Individuals); Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Memory; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Pathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Test Reliability; Test Validity; Learning; Cognition; Down syndrome; Alzheimer’s disease; Memory; Dementia; Chromosomal aberration; Human; Nervous system diseases; Trisomy; Cognitive disorder; Alzheimer disease; Aneuploidy; Cerebral disorder; Senile dementia; Acquisition process; Central nervous system disease; Degenerative disease; Diagnosis; Alzheimer's disease
• ISSN: 0278-2626; 1090-2147
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2007.01.003

Measures developed from animal models of aging may detect dementia of the Alzheimer’s type in a population at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although, by middle age, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) show an extraordinarily high prevalence of AD-type pathology, their severe idiopathic cognitive deficits tend to confound the clinical diagnosis of AD. The current study was designed to improve detection of AD in DS by using measures of learning and memory derived from animal models of aging. Adults with DS ( N = 34) were assessed and reassessed ( n = 19) approximately one year later using stimulus–response (S–R) test methods derived from experimental literature, as well as standardized informant-based tests. Results demonstrated high validity and reliability of select tests. The implication of early symptom detection in a population at-risk for AD-type dementia was discussed in terms of potential brain regions of interest.