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MRI volume of the medial frontal cortex predicts financial capacity in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease

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Abstract

Persons with mild Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have significant deficits in financial abilities. This study examined the relationship between brain structure volumes, cognition, and financial capacity in patients with mild AD. Sixteen mild AD patients and 16 older adult comparisons completed the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI), a psychometric measure of financial abilities, and also underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to obtain volumes of the bilateral hippocampi, angular gyri, precunei, and medial and dorsolateral frontal cortices. Mild AD patients performed significantly below comparisons on the FCI and had significantly smaller hippocampi. Among mild AD patients, FCI performance was moderately correlated with frontal (medial and dorsolateral frontal cortex) and posterior (angular gyri and precunei) cortical volumes. Stepwise regression demonstrated that medial frontal cortex volume predicted FCI score. The relationship between medial frontal cortex volume and overall FCI score was partially mediated by two measures of simple attention (DRS Attention, DRS Construction). The findings suggest that medial frontal cortex atrophy and associated declines in simple attention play an increasingly important role in declining financial skills in patients with mild AD.

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Acknowledgment

This study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging (Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center–1P50 AG16582-10: Marson, PI); (1R01 AG021927-05: Marson, PI); (5R01 AG021927: Marson, PI), Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (K23 DA032612: Stoeckel, PI), the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Award (Stoeckel, PI), and the Charles A. King Trust Fellowship (Stoeckel, PI). The authors would like to thank Julia Stern and Caroline Chan for their assistance with manuscript preparation.

The authors acknowledge that there were no financial or other conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Luke E. Stoeckel

  2. Department of Behavioral Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Christopher C. Stewart

  3. Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    H. Randall Griffith, Kristen Triebel, Roy C. Martin, Katherine Belue, Lindy E. Harrell, John C. Brockington, David G. Clark & Daniel C. Marson

  4. Department of Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    H. Randall Griffith, Kristen Triebel, Roy C. Martin, Katherine Belue, Lindy E. Harrell, John C. Brockington, David G. Clark & Daniel C. Marson

  5. Department of Medicine & Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Ozioma C. Okonkwo

  6. Department of Cardiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Jan A. den Hollander

  7. Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Jacquelynn N. Copeland

  8. Birmingham Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Lindy E. Harrell & David G. Clark

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  1. Luke E. Stoeckel
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  2. Christopher C. Stewart
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  3. H. Randall Griffith
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  7. Roy C. Martin
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  12. David G. Clark
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  13. Daniel C. Marson
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Correspondence to Luke E. Stoeckel, Christopher C. Stewart or Daniel C. Marson.

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Luke E. Stoeckel and Christopher C. Stewart contributed equally to this work.

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Stoeckel, L.E., Stewart, C.C., Griffith, H.R. et al. MRI volume of the medial frontal cortex predicts financial capacity in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior 7, 282–292 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-013-9226-3

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