Journal of Neurology

, Volume 262, Issue 5, pp 1238–1246 | Cite as

Differentiated clinical presentation of early and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease: is 65 years of age providing a reliable threshold?

  • Antonio Palasí
  • Belén Gutiérrez-Iglesias
  • Montse Alegret
  • Francesc Pujadas
  • Mikel Olabarrieta
  • Diana Liébana
  • Manolo Quintana
  • José Álvarez-Sabín
  • Mercè Boada
Original Communication
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Early-onset and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD and LOAD) are two forms of the disease with the same characteristic neuropathological hallmarks. However, higher burdens of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in frontal and parietal lobes have been found in EOAD than in LOAD patients. Thus, the EOAD subjects may have a differentiated clinical presentation compared to the LOAD ones. Some authors have found less hippocampal memory presentations and more focal cortical abnormalities (such as visuoconstructive or executive dysfunction) in EOAD than LOAD patients. The aim of the present study was to determine which initial clinical profiles differ between EOAD and LOAD; and to analyze whether another age cut-off could discriminate better between EOAD and LOAD clinical presentations than the conventional limit of 65. All patients fulfilling NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable Alzheimer’s disease who referred to our Hospital between October 2007 and December 2012 were included in the study. The conventional age limit of 65 was established to distinguish between EOAD and LOAD. Baseline neuropsychological scores, adjusted for age and education, were compared between both groups. A total of 181 patients (38 EOAD, 143 LOAD) entered in the analysis. Sex distribution and time of evolution of symptoms did not differ between groups. The EOAD patients performed worse than LOAD in attentional, imitation praxis and verbal learning tests. In addition, the age cut-off of 70 was found to differentiate between early- and late-onset groups better than the standard cut-off of 65 years old. Our results support a differentiated neuropsychological impairment pattern in EOAD compared to LOAD.

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease Early-onset Late-onset Clinical presentation Neuropsychology 
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Notes

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

The study was approved by the local ethics committee and was therefore performed in accordance with ethical standards according to WMA Declaration of Helsinki-Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Antonio Palasí
    • 1
  • Belén Gutiérrez-Iglesias
    • 1
  • Montse Alegret
    • 2
  • Francesc Pujadas
    • 1
  • Mikel Olabarrieta
    • 1
  • Diana Liébana
    • 1
  • Manolo Quintana
    • 1
  • José Álvarez-Sabín
    • 1
  • Mercè Boada
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Unitat de Demències, Department of NeurologyVall d’Hebron Research Institute, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
  2. 2.Memory Clinic of Fundació ACE, Institut Català de Neurociències AplicadesBarcelonaSpain

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