A - 111 Neuropsychological Functioning in those with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

Abstract Objective To differentiate neurocognitive performance between those with chronic traumatic encephalopathy neuropathologic change (CTE-NC) and matched CTE-negative individuals. Methods Data were obtained from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). Participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia and CTE-NC (n = 22) were matched approximately 1:3 to those with MCI/dementia but without CTE-NC (n = 64) on demographics (age of initial cognitive diagnosis, education, sex) and postmortem Alzheimer’s and Lewy body neuropathology. ANCOVAs (covarying for symptom duration and cognitive diagnosis) compared neurocognitive measures between groups (MMSE and neuropsychological battery composites of Attention, Executive Function, and Speed [AEFS], Memory, and Language). Results Participants were all male, 89.3% White, and averaged 16.3 years of education. They were, on average, 74.8 years of age (SD = 7.3) when diagnosed with MCI/dementia and had 4.2 years (SD = 4.2) of cognitive symptoms prior to MCI/dementia diagnosis. Rates of comorbid moderate/severe Alzheimer’s or Lewy body pathology were high (n = 13, 54%) in the CTE-NC group. At time of cognitive diagnosis, individuals with CTE-NC performed slightly better on the MMSE (F = 4.510, p = 0.037, CTE-NC+ M = 26.03 [1.05] vs. CTE-NC- M = 23.44 [0.58]). No differences in AEFS [F = 0.280, p = 0.599], Memory [F = 2.265, p = 0.137], or Language [F = 3.424, p = 0.069] were observed between groups. Conclusions Those with CTE-NC did not greatly differ in neuropsychological domains, but had relatively higher MMSE scores compared to those without CTE-NC. This is the largest clinicopathological investigation utilizing in-vivo neurocognitive data, though NACC lacks CTE-NC severity/distribution data for sensitivity analyses. Nonetheless, results have implications for CTE clinical criteria frameworks and larger clinicopathological studies are needed to determine if CTE-NC has distinct neurocognitive features.