Table 1.
Description and major diagnostic parameters of the study population
| Baseline | Follow-up | Statistical comparisons (p values) | ||||||
| Aging (n = 152; 94 F, 58 M) | AD (n = 22; 15 F, 7 M) | Aging (n = 152; 94 F, 58 M) | AD (n = 22; 15 F, 7 M) | Aging BL versus AD BL* | Aging FU versus Aging BL† | AD FU verrsus AD BL† | Aging FU versus AD FU‡ | |
| Age [y] | 75.64 | 75.79 | 83.22 | 78.85 | n.d. | n.d. | n.d. | n.d. |
| (75.32–75.98) | (75.44–76.22) | (82.95–83.52) | (78.08–80.92) | |||||
| MMSE | 28.0 | 26.5 | 28.0 | 21.5 | 0.001 | 0.710 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| [0–30 points] | (27.0–29.0) | (24.0–29.0) | (27.0–29.0) | (19.75–24.0) | ||||
| FOME | 45.0 | 38.5 | 44.0 | 23.0 | 0.001 | 0.163 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| [0–50 points] | (43.0–47.0) | (35.0–46.0) | (41.0–47.0) | (13.75–28.0) | ||||
| TMT-A§ | 43.5 | 58.0 | 53.0 | 108.0 | <0.001 | 0.006 | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| [s] | (36.0–54.3) | (48.0–78.5) | (42.0–71.0) | (71.8–208.3) | ||||
| TMT-B§ | 117.0 | 172.0 | 170.0 | 600.0 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.001 |
| [0–600 s] | (89.0–151.0) | (145.0–235.0) | (110.5–310.0) | (487.5–600.0) | ||||
| Brain MRI§ | 0:93.0% | 0:47.1% | 0:31.8% | 0:0% | ||||
| Scores¶ | 1:6.3% | 1:35.3% | 1:42.4% | 1:23.5% | ||||
| [% per group] | 2:0.7% | 2:17.6% | 2:18.2% | 2:52.9% | 0.004 | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.007 |
| 3:0% | 3:0% | 3:7.6% | 3:11.8% | |||||
| 4:0% | 4:0% | 4:0% | 4:11.8% | |||||
BL, baseline; FU, follow-up; F, female; M, male; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; FOME, Fuld Object Memory Evaluation; TMT, Trail Making Test. All values (except for brain MRI scores) are presented as medians with quartiles in parentheses. Follow-up refers to 90 months in the aging group and the time point of diagnosis in the AD group. *Baseline comparisons were done using Wilcoxon’s rank sum test (brain MRI: Fisher’s exact test). †Longitudinal changes in the normal aging and the AD group were evaluated using ANCOVA models (brain MRI: McNemar’s test). ‡Comparison of the longitudinal changes in the aging versus AD group was carried out using ANCOVA models (brain MRI: logistic regression). §Number of missing values: TMT-A: aging group: 2 at BL, 2 at FU; AD group: 1 at BL; TMT-B: aging group: 5 at BL, 7 at FU; AD group: 7 at BL, 1 at FU; Brain MRI: aging group: 10 at BL, 20 at FU; AD group: 5 at BL, 5 at FU. ¶Brain atrophy in MRI was scored from 0 (no atrophy) to 4 (most severe atrophy). Data are shown as relative frequencies in each group.