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P3–221: A proportional odds approach for estimating probability of cognitive health, MCI and dementia associated with computerized cognitive testing score
Author(s) -
Doniger Glen,
Zucker David,
Simon Ely
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2013.05.1294
Subject(s) - dementia , neurocognitive , odds , logistic regression , cognition , odds ratio , ordered logit , psychology , medicine , statistics , psychiatry , disease , mathematics
Background: Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that hippocampal and parahippocampal systems, toghether with the posterior cingulate region, are associated with the risk factor of Alzheimer’s disease and show significant metabolism changes during Alzheimer’s disease early stages. According to this framework we would like to study whether in Alzheimer population there is a decline in performing the "allocentric to egocentric" translation that requires the contribution of hippocampal and parahippocampal regions.Methods: In this study we evaluated in virtual reality 26 healthy volunteers (Mean age 77.23; sd 5.25) and 26 Alzheimer’s patients (Mean age 80.96; sd 6.3). In order to test participants’ ability to explore a complex environment in an egocentric way by using an allocentric map we used the VR-Maze test, an originally developed virtual reality tool (Morganti et al. 2009) based on 5 differently complex virtual reality mazes. In the VRMaze test, participants were requested to first perform the paper and pencil (PP) version of the mazes, and then to find the right way into the equivalent virtual reality (VR) version of the mazes. Results: A first comparison betweenAlzheimer and healthy subject was performed on the correct execution of eachmaze both for the PP andVR version. For PPmazes a between groups analysis showed a significant difference among Alzheimer’s and Healthy subjects only for the more complex maze: maze 5 F(5.26), p1⁄4 .024. For the VRmazes the same analysis revealed an highly significant difference between groups for 4 of the 5mazes: maze 2 F(4.48), p1⁄4 .039; maze 3 F (5.95), p 1⁄4 .018; maze 4 F(4.54), p 1⁄4 .038; maze 3 F(4.5), p 1⁄4 .036. Conclusions: Results pointed out how a decreasing ability in performing VR mazes exists in Alzheimer’s patients while this decrease is not so evident in the PP version of the test. These results highlights how there is a reduction in Alzheimer’s patients in the allocentric/egocentric translation demanded from the VR maze test. We can partially conclude that this tool was able to shed light on the differences between a non pathological cognitive decline in elderly and an impairment on this ability linkable with Alzheimer’s disease.