Impact of Recruitment Methods in Subjective Cognitive Decline

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Abdelnour, Carla^{a; *} | Rodríguez-Gómez, Octavio^a | Alegret, Montserrat^a | Valero, Sergi^b | Moreno-Grau, Sonia^a | Sanabria, Ángela^a | Hernández, Isabel^a | Rosende-Roca, Maitee^a | Vargas, Liliana^a | Mauleón, Ana^a | Sánchez, Domingo^a | Espinosa, Ana^a | Ortega, Gemma^a | Pérez-Cordón, Alba^a | Diego, Susana^a | Gailhajanet, Anna^a | Guitart, Marina^a | Sotolongo-Grau, Óscar^a | Ruiz, Agustín^a | Tárraga, Lluís^a | Boada, Mercè^a

Affiliations: [a] Alzheimer Research Center and Memory Clinic of Fundació ACE, Institut Catalá de Neurociències Aplicades, Barcelona, Spain | [b] Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, CIBERSAM, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Carla Abdelnour, Alzheimer Research Center and Memory Clinic of Fundació ACE, Institut Catalá de Neurociéncies Aplicades, Gran Via Carles III, 85 bis. Barcelona, Spain. Tel.: +34 934304720; Fax: +34 934193542; E-mail: cabdelnour@fundacioace.com.

Abstract: Background: Recruitment methods can determine sample characteristics in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease dementia, but little is known about its influence in subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Objective: To determine the influence of two types of recruitment methods in the characteristics of individuals with SCD. Methods: We select and compare clinical and neuropsychological features, and frequency of APOE ɛ4 allele of 326 subjects with SCD from two cohorts: Open House Initiative (OHI) versus Memory Unit (MU). A logistic regression analysis (LRA), using gender and years of education as covariates, was used to examine the neuropsychological variables. Results: The OHI sample were mostly women (75.9% versus 64.5%, p < 0.05), with higher educational level (12.15 [3.71] versus 10.70 [3.80] years, p = 0.001), and more family history of dementia (138 [62.7%] versus 44 [41.5%], p < 0.001) than the MU sample. Also, the OHI sample showed better overall neuropsychological performance than the MU sample, and after a LRA, this trend continued in automatic response inhibition capacity, abstract reasoning, and recognition memory. We did not find differences in age, depression history, and/or APOE ɛ4 allele frequency. Conclusion: SCD subjects showed different demographic and neuropsychological characteristics depending on the recruitment method, which should be taken into account in the design of research studies with this target population.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, patient recruitment, research subject recruitment, sampling studies, subjective cognitive decline

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-160915

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 625-632, 2017