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American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias logoLink to American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
. 2006 Jun-Jul;21(3):189–196. doi: 10.1177/1533317506289348

Neuropsychological Markers of Progression From Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease

Alberto Marcos 1, Pedro Gil 2, Ana Barabash 3, Raquel Rodriguez 4, Marta Encinas 5, Cristina Fernández 6, José Antonio Cabranes 7
PMCID: PMC10833278  PMID: 16869340

Abstract

To find early clinical markers that may predict a likely progression to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the authors performed neuropsychological tests on 82 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects. After 3 years, 38 patients developed AD while 44 retained the diagnosis of MCI. The cognitive differences between the groups were studied. Patients who developed AD showed significantly lower values than did MCI subjects in some neuropsychological scores (P = .02-.001), with sensitivities and specificities higher than 84% and 64%, respectively, for detecting early-onset AD, with a 7.9-fold increased risk of converting to AD (P < .001). Regarding the logistic regression model, the CAMCOG Memory and Perception cognitive screening items were the optimum independent tools to classify the patients who will progress to AD, showing a relative risk of progression of 10.5 (P = .002), 5.5 (P = .008), and 3.9 times (P = .05), respectively, with a sensibility of of 92.1% and a specificity 72.7%.

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, neuropsychological test, preclinical markers

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Contributor Information

Alberto Marcos, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain, a_marcos_d@yahoo.es .

Pedro Gil, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Ana Barabash, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Raquel Rodriguez, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Marta Encinas, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Cristina Fernández, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

José Antonio Cabranes, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

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