INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 02 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 08:00 am - 09:15 am Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 02: Aging \| MCI \| Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1 Final Abstract #25 Figure copy and recall differentiate Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) Alexander Eisenstein, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Stephen Docherty, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Timothy Baer, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Chrystal Fullen, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Jennifer Gess, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Jennifer Kleiner, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Lee Isaac, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States Category: Neurodegenerative Disorders Keyword 1: dementia with Lewy bodies Keyword 2: dementia - other cortical Keyword 3: visuospatial functions Objective: Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) are both age-related neurodegenerative syndromes that are associated with early, prominent visuospatial deficits. Whereas the cognitive profile of DLB additionally includes frontal-subcortical attention and executive deficits, PCA is associated with relative sparing of non-visual cognitive domains; however, memory impairments eventually occur in both syndromes. Some previous laboratory research has suggested subtle differences in visual perceptual abilities between these groups, though no studies to date have compared them using clinically validated neurocognitive tests. The present study aimed to characterize performance and identify differences between individuals with DLB and PCA on a clinically validated complex figure copy and recall task. Participants and Methods: Participants included 341 U.S. adults (DLB: n = 262, PCA: n = 79; Age: M = 69.91, SD = 8.9; Education: M = 16.16, SD = 2.97; Gender: 69% male, 31% female; Race: 91% White, 5% Black/African American, 3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native, 0.2% Other; Ethnicity: 4% Hispanic origin) who completed comprehensive evaluations at Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the U.S. as part of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NIA/NIH Grant U24 AG072122), including the Uniform Data Set neuropsychological battery. Performance on the Benton Complex Figure test copy and delayed recall trials was compared between groups using independent sample t-tests, and performance on the recognition trial was compared using chi-square. Results: The DLB group performed significantly better on figure copy (t(339) = 11.92, p < .01) and delayed recall (t(339) = 6.17, p < .01) than the PCA group. The proportion of participants who correctly identified the stimulus in the recognition item was significantly greater in the DLB group than the PCA group (χ²(1, N = 341) = 13.73, p < .01). Conclusions: Figure copy and memory tasks appear to be useful in discriminating between DLB and PCA, syndromes that both involve visuospatial deficits. Participants with DLB performed better than those with PCA on the copy, recall, and recognition trials. The present study is limited in that analysis of recall performance did not control for stimulus encoding. This will be addressed in follow-up analyses. Further research should additionally examine whether covariates modify these results, especially duration of disease and overall level of cognitive impairment, given that the DLB group outperformed the PCA group across all trials. Additionally, exploring the psychometric properties of a cut-point score on this task may be useful to study its clinical utility in diagnostic discrimination.

Poster

02/15/2024
08:00 am - 09:15 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 02: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1

Final Abstract #25

Figure copy and recall differentiate Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA)

Alexander Eisenstein, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Stephen Docherty, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Timothy Baer, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Chrystal Fullen, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Jennifer Gess, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Jennifer Kleiner, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States
Lee Isaac, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, United States

Category: Neurodegenerative Disorders

Keyword 1: dementia with Lewy bodies
Keyword 2: dementia - other cortical
Keyword 3: visuospatial functions

Objective:

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) are both age-related neurodegenerative syndromes that are associated with early, prominent visuospatial deficits. Whereas the cognitive profile of DLB additionally includes frontal-subcortical attention and executive deficits, PCA is associated with relative sparing of non-visual cognitive domains; however, memory impairments eventually occur in both syndromes. Some previous laboratory research has suggested subtle differences in visual perceptual abilities between these groups, though no studies to date have compared them using clinically validated neurocognitive tests. The present study aimed to characterize performance and identify differences between individuals with DLB and PCA on a clinically validated complex figure copy and recall task.

Participants and Methods:

Participants included 341 U.S. adults (DLB: n = 262, PCA: n = 79; Age: M = 69.91, SD = 8.9; Education: M = 16.16, SD = 2.97; Gender: 69% male, 31% female; Race: 91% White, 5% Black/African American, 3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian/Alaska Native, 0.2% Other; Ethnicity: 4% Hispanic origin) who completed comprehensive evaluations at Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the U.S. as part of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NIA/NIH Grant U24 AG072122), including the Uniform Data Set neuropsychological battery. Performance on the Benton Complex Figure test copy and delayed recall trials was compared between groups using independent sample t-tests, and performance on the recognition trial was compared using chi-square.

Results:

The DLB group performed significantly better on figure copy (t(339) = 11.92, p < .01) and delayed recall (t(339) = 6.17, p < .01) than the PCA group. The proportion of participants who correctly identified the stimulus in the recognition item was significantly greater in the DLB group than the PCA group (χ²(1, N = 341) = 13.73, p < .01).

Conclusions:

Figure copy and memory tasks appear to be useful in discriminating between DLB and PCA, syndromes that both involve visuospatial deficits. Participants with DLB performed better than those with PCA on the copy, recall, and recognition trials. The present study is limited in that analysis of recall performance did not control for stimulus encoding. This will be addressed in follow-up analyses. Further research should additionally examine whether covariates modify these results, especially duration of disease and overall level of cognitive impairment, given that the DLB group outperformed the PCA group across all trials. Additionally, exploring the psychometric properties of a cut-point score on this task may be useful to study its clinical utility in diagnostic discrimination.