Modeling the progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease with PET-based Braak staging
In Alzheimer's disease (AD), neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) correlate with tau deposition in the brain. Here, we investigated the association of PET-based Braak stages with NPS and assessed whether they predict annual changes in NPS. We evaluated 231 individuals in the aging and AD continuum. Participants were assigned a Braak stage at baseline and followed for 1.97 (s.d. 0.62) years. NPS were investigated using the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire severity (NPI-Q-S) and distress (NPI-Q-D) scales. Multiple linear regressions (MLR) assessed the association of Braak stages with baseline NPS and the annual change in NPS scores. At baseline, stages I-II, III-IV, and V-VI were associated with higher MBI-C, NPI-Q-S, and NPI-Q-D scores. Stages V-VI were associated with a significant annual increase in MBI-C scores. These findings suggest that tau accumulation may manifest clinically with an increase in NPS, which seems to be an early event in AD pathophysiology. Moreover, PET-based Braak staging appears to be a good predictor of NPS severity progression.
Authors
- Serge Gauthier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4272-3330)
- Tharick Ali Pascoal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9057-8014)
- João Pedro Ferrari‐Souza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2183-1551)
- Zahinoor Ismail (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-3731)
- Mira Chamoun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7001-5652)
- Joseph Therriault (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7826-4781)
- Douglas Teixeira Leffa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4890-8451)
- Eduardo Rigon Zimmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5349-0053)
- Marie R. Vermeiren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6876-5770)
- Jaime Fernandez‐Arias
- Nesrine Rahmouni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3081-8468)
- Pâmela C.L. Ferreira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2134-9829)
- Arthur C. Macedo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3957-0284)
- Stijn Servaes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4431-957X)
- Seyyed Ali Hosseini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7542-7541)
- Bruna Bellaver (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2212-3373)
- Firoza Zubeida Lussier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6877-4825)
- Kok Pin Ng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3787-8944)
- Cécile Tissot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2711-3833)
- Étienne Aumont (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8997-7090)
- Gleb Bezgin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1069-9201)
- Kely Quispialaya Socualaya
- Pedro Rosa‐Neto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9116-1376)
- Paolo Vitali (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9204-2678)
- Yi‐Ting Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2008-4435)
- Jenna Stevenson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2848-1451)
Institutions
- Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (CA)
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR)
- Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
- Instituto do Cérebro (BR)
- National Neuroscience Institute (SG)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Neurobiology of Aging
- Published
- 2024-09-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.09.009
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.46
Funders
- Alzheimer's Association
- McGill University
- Faculty of Medicine, McGill University
- Fondation Brain Canada
- Weston Brain Institute
- Consortium canadien en neurodégénérescence associée au vieillissement
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Mitacs
- Canada First Research Excellence Fund
- Fonds de recherche du Québec
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé