Is the Discrimination of Subjective Cognitive Decline from Cognitively Healthy Adulthood and Mild Cognitive Impairment Possible? A Pilot Study Utilizing the R4Alz Battery
Affiliations: [a] Laboratory of Psychology, Section of Cognitive and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Macedonia, Hellas | [b] Lab of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (LND, CIRI - AUTh) Macedonia, Hellas | [c] Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (GAADRD), Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Hellas | [d] School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Macedonia, Hellas | [e] 1st Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Macedonia, Hellas
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Eleni Poptsi, Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (GAADRD), Petrou Sindika 13 str. Thessaloniki 54643, Macedonia, Hellas. Tel.: +30 2310 810 411; Fax: +30 2310 925 802; E-mail: poptsielena@gmail.com.
Abstract: Background:The early diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders before the symptoms’ onset is the ultimate goal of the scientific community. REMEDES for Alzheimer (R4Alz) is a battery, designed for assessing cognitive control abilities in people with minor and major neurocognitive disorders. Objective:To investigate whether the R4Alz battery’s tasks differentiate subjective cognitive decline (SCD) from cognitively healthy adults (CHA) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods:The R4Alz battery was administered to 175 Greek adults, categorized in five groups a) healthy young adults (HYA; n = 42), b) healthy middle-aged adults (HMaA; n = 33), c) healthy older adults (HOA; n = 14), d) community-dwelling older adults with SCD (n = 34), and e) people with MCI (n = 52). Results:Between the seven R4Alz subtasks, four showcased the best results for differentiating HOA from SCD: the working memory updating (WMCUT-S3), the inhibition and switching subtask (ICT/RST-S1&S2), the failure sets (FS) of the ICT/RST-S1&S2, and the cognitive flexibility subtask (ICT/RST-S3). The total score of the four R4Alz subtasks (R4AlzTot4) leads to an excellent discrimination among SCD and healthy adulthood, and to fare discrimination among SCD and MCI. Conclusion:The R4Alz battery is a novel approach regarding the neuropsychological assessment of people with SCD, since it can very well assist toward discriminating SCD from HOA. The R4Alz is able to measure decline of specific cognitive control abilities - namely of working memory updating, and complex executive functions - which seem to be the neuropsychological substrate of cognitive complaints in community dwelling adults of advancing age.
