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Cerebellar Volume Is Associated with Cognitive Decline in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results from ADNI

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a disease with dysfunctional brain network. Previous studies found the cerebellar volume changes over the course of AD disease progression; however, whether cerebellar volume change contributes to the cognitive decline in AD, or its earlier disease stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment [MCI]) remains unclear. In ADNI, cognitive function was assessed using Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Behavior section (ADAS-Cog). We used linear regression and linear mixed effects models to examine whether cerebellar volume is associated with either baseline cognition or with cognitive changes over time in MCI or in AD. We used logistic regression to assess the relationship between cerebellar volume and disease progression to MCI and AD. We found that cerebellar volume is associated with cognition in patients with MCI, after adjusting for age, gender, education, hippocampal volume, and APOE4 status. Consistently, cerebellar volume is associated with increased odds of the disease stages of MCI and AD when compared to controls. However, cerebellar volume is not associated with cognitive changes over time in either MCI or AD. In summary, cerebellar volume may contribute to cognition level in MCI, but not in AD, indicating that the cerebellar network might modulate the cognitive function in the early stage of the disease. The cerebellum may be a potential target for neuromodulation in treating MCI.

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Funding

Dr. Chen has received funding from the National Institute of Health: NINDS #R01 MH118281 (principal investigator), NINDS #R01 MH100351 (principal investigator), and NINDS #R56 AG061163 (principal investigator). Dr. Tom has received funding from the National Institutes on Aging: NINDS #K01 AG050723. Dr. Kuo has received funding from the National Institutes of Health: NINDS #R01 NS104423 (principal investigator), NINDS #K08 NS083738 (principal investigator), and the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholar Award, Parkinson’s Foundation, and International Essential Tremor Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, 650 West 168th Street, Room 305, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Chi-Ying Lin, Sarah E. Tom & Sheng-Han Kuo

  2. Initiative for Columbia Ataxia and Tremor, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Chi-Ying Lin & Sheng-Han Kuo

  3. Center for Multimodal Imaging and Genetics, Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Chi-Hua Chen

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Sarah E. Tom

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  1. Chi-Ying Lin
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for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

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Chi-Ying Lin: study concept, data analysis and interpretation, manuscript draft and revision; Chi-Hua Chen: study concept, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, and critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Sarah E. Tom: data analysis and interpretation, critical revision of the manuscript of important intellectual content; Sheng-Han Kuo: study concept, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content, and study supervision.

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Correspondence to Sheng-Han Kuo.

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Lin, CY., Chen, CH., Tom, S.E. et al. Cerebellar Volume Is Associated with Cognitive Decline in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results from ADNI. Cerebellum 19, 217–225 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-019-01099-1

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