Posterior AD-Type Pathology : Cognitive Subtypes Emerging from a Cluster Analysis
Joint Authors
Martelli, Marialuisa
Ciccarelli, Nicoletta
Cappa, Antonella
Baldonero, Eleonora
Silveri, Maria Caterina
Source
Issue
Vol. 2014, Issue 2014 (31 Dec. 2014), pp.1-8, 8 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2014-06-05
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
8
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Background.
“Posterior shift” of the neuropathological changes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) produces a syndrome (posterior cortical atrophy) (PCA) dominated by high-level visual deficits.
Objective.
To explore in patients with AD-type pathology whether a data-driven analysis (cluster analysis) based on neuropsychological findings resulted in the emergence of different subgroups of patients; in particular to find out whether it was possible to identify patients with visuospatial deficits consistent with the hypothesis that PCA is a “dorsal stream” syndrome or, rather, whether there were subgroups of patients with different types of impairment within the high-level visual domain.
Methods.
23 PCA and 16 DAT patients were studied.
By a principal component analysis performed on a wide range of neuropsychological tasks, 15 variables were obtained that loaded onto five main factors (memory, language, perceptual, visuospatial, and calculation) which entered a hierarchical cluster analysis.
Results.
Four clusters of cognitive impairment emerged: visuospatial/perceptual, memory, perceptual/calculation, and language.
Only in the first cluster a visuospatial deficit clearly emerged.
Conclusions.
AD pathology produces not only variants dominated by memory (DAT) and, to a lesser extent, visuospatial deficit (PCA), but also other distinct syndromic subtypes with disorders in visual perception and language which reflect a different vulnerability of specific functional networks.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Cappa, Antonella& Ciccarelli, Nicoletta& Baldonero, Eleonora& Martelli, Marialuisa& Silveri, Maria Caterina. 2014. Posterior AD-Type Pathology : Cognitive Subtypes Emerging from a Cluster Analysis. Behavioural Neurology،Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-458176
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Cappa, Antonella…[et al.]. Posterior AD-Type Pathology : Cognitive Subtypes Emerging from a Cluster Analysis. Behavioural Neurology No. 2014 (2014), pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-458176
American Medical Association (AMA)
Cappa, Antonella& Ciccarelli, Nicoletta& Baldonero, Eleonora& Martelli, Marialuisa& Silveri, Maria Caterina. Posterior AD-Type Pathology : Cognitive Subtypes Emerging from a Cluster Analysis. Behavioural Neurology. 2014. Vol. 2014, no. 2014, pp.1-8.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-458176
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-458176