Abstract
The Alzheimer’s Questionnaire (AQ) is an informant-based screening tool with good diagnostic accuracy for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). The aim of this study is to validate the AQ with AD-associated neuritic plaque (NP) and neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) pathology. Data from 205 prospectively followed autopsy cases clinically classified as AD (n = 90), aMCI (n = 42), or cognitively unimpaired (CU, n = 73) were used. Semi-quantitative measures of NP and NFT pathology were correlated with the AQ, Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB), and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE). The AQ correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with NP load (r = 0.37) and NFT load (r = 0.57). The MMSE and CDR-SOB showed similar correlations with NP load (r = − 0.37, r = 0.35, respectively) and NFT load (r = − 0.58, r = 0.55, respectively). The AQ correlates well with NP and NFT pathology of AD, which provides additional confidence to clinicians using the AQ to screen for AD-related cognitive impairment.
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Data availability
Data used in this study can be requested from the Banner Sun Health Research Institute Brain and Body Donation Program at (https://www.bannerhealth.com/services/research/locations/sun-health-institute/programs/body-donation/tissue).
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Funding
The Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders and Brain and Body Donation Program has been supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U24 NS072026 National Brain and Tissue Resource for Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders), the National Institute on Aging (P30AG19610 and P30AG072980, Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Center), the Arizona Department of Health Services (contract 211002, Arizona Alzheimer’s Research Center), the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission (contracts 4001, 0011, 05-901 and 1001 to the Arizona Parkinson's Disease Consortium) and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
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IM was responsible for drafting the manuscript and statistical analysis; MM aided in the drafting of the manuscript and the statistical analysis; TB and GS supplied the data for this study and provided critical input and revisions to the manuscript; TV, BA, MNS, CMB, PC, AArch, KD, CC, NM, and AAtri provided critical input and revisions to the manuscript.
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The Brain and Body Donation Program is approved by the Western Institutional Review Board.
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Mohebpour, I., Malek-Ahmadi, M., Virden, T. et al. Neuropathologic validation of the Alzheimer’s Questionnaire. Aging Clin Exp Res 34, 2905–2909 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02222-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-022-02222-9