Risk of Conversion to Dementia in a Mild Behavioral Impairment Group Compared to a Psychiatric Group and to a Mild Cognitive Impairment Group

• Published in: Journal of Alzheimer's disease Vol. 62; no. 1; p. 227
• Main Authors: Taragano, Fernando E, Allegri, Ricardo F, Heisecke, Silvina L, Martelli, María I, Feldman, Mónica L, Sánchez, Viviana, García, Virginia A, Tufro, Graciela, Castro, Diego M, Leguizamón, Patricio Perez, Guelar, Verónica, Ruotolo, Eva, Zegarra, Cecilia, Dillon, Carol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands 01.01.2018
• Subjects: follow-up; Alzheimer’s disease; conversion to dementia; Lewy body disease; mild behavioral impairment; mild cognitive impairment; pre-dementia; frontotemporal disease
• ISSN: 1875-8908
• DOI: 10.3233/JAD-170632

There is insufficient available information on behavioral changes in the absence of cognitive impairment as factors increasing the risk of conversion to dementia. To observe and analyze patients with mild behavioral impairment (MBI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and a psychiatry group (PG) to compare the risk of progression to dementia. From 677 initially assessed ≥60-year-old patients, a series of 348 patients was studied for a five-year period until censoring or conversion to dementia: 96 with MBI, 87 with MCI, and 165 with general psychiatry disorders, including 4 subgroups: Anxiety, Depression, Psychosis and Others. All patients were assessed with clinical, psychiatric, neurological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging studies. From 348 patients, 126 evolved to dementia (36.2%). Conversion was significantly higher in MBI (71.5%), followed by the MCI-MBI overlap (59.6%) and MCI (37.8%) groups, compared to PG (13.9%) (Log-rank p < 0.001). MCI patients mostly converted to Alzheimer's dementia, while MBI converted to frontotemporal dementia and Lewy body dementia. Patients in PG converted to Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia. Conversion to dementia is significantly higher in patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms. The MBI concept generates a new milestone in the refining of diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and the possibility of creating neuropsychiatric profiles. Its earlier identification will allow new possibilities for therapeutic intervention.