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P1‐179: CAN DUAL TASK PARADIGMS CONTRIBUTE TO THE DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND DEMENTIA/MCI?
Author(s) -
Metzger Florian,
Eschweiler Gerhard,
Ehlis AnnChristine,
Hobert Markus,
Berg Daniela,
Maetzler Walter
Publication year - 2014
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.2014.05.417
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , dementia , psychology , neuropsychology , medical diagnosis , beck depression inventory , cognition , depressive symptoms , psychiatry , audiology , clinical psychology , disease , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , pathology , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics
Serial position performance was measured with the Buschke selective reminding test (BSRT). Hippocampal size was automatically measured via MRI using high-dimensional spatial transformation and a predefined hippocampus mask. We conducted regression analyses with delayed primacy, delayed recency and total delayed recall performance as outcome variables; predictors were age, family history of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), APOE e4 status, sex, level of education, total intracranial volume, and left and right hippocampal size. Results: The size of both the left and right hippocampus was positively correlated with delayed primacy performance, although left hippocampal size was a slightly better predictor of performance. In contrast, hippocampal size did not predict total delayed recall or recency performance. Conclusions:These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the hippocampus is involved in delayed primacy consolidation. To our knowledge, this is the first time this has been reported in cognitively-intact older individuals, using in-vivo imaging. Our results shed some light on the relationship between delayed primacy performance and generalised cognitive decline. Since delayed primacy consolidation relies on a healthy hippocampus, and the hippocampus is affected early in AD, it is possible that failure to consolidate delayed primacy items might indirectly signal the incipient emergence of the disease.