Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T10:09:24.562Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do patients with young onset Alzheimer's disease deteriorate faster than those with late onset Alzheimer's disease? A review of the literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2014

Karen Stanley  and
Zuzana Walker
Karen Stanley*
Affiliation:
North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust, St Margaret's Hospital, The Plain, Epping, Essex CM16 6TN, UK
Zuzana Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Services, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Karen Stanley, North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust, St Margaret's Hospital, The Plain, Epping, Essex CM16 6TN, UK. Email: kstanley@doctors.net.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Young onset Alzheimer's disease (YOAD; onset before 65 years of age) is thought to have a more rapid course and increased rate of progression compared to late onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). This assumption appears partly due to important clinical, structural, neuropathological, and neurochemical differences suggesting YOAD is a separate entity to LOAD. The aim in this review was to systematically identify and examine appropriate studies comparing rate of cognitive decline between patients with YOAD and patients with LOAD.

Methods:

A computer-based literature search was initially undertaken, followed by citation tracking and search of related papers. Primary research studies specifically focused on the rate of cognitive decline between people with YOAD and LOAD were included. Studies were described, critically analyzed, presented, and discussed in the review.

Results:

Four studies were included, of which three were longitudinal and one was a case-control study. Three of the included studies found a faster rate of decline in patients with YOAD, and one found no difference in rate of decline between the two groups.

Conclusions:

The findings of the review are mixed and conflicting, and limited by the heterogeneity of the included studies. There is a need for future research to design systematic studies that include sufficient sample sizes and follow-up periods, and control for possible confounding factors such as education level, baseline cognitive impairment, and vascular risk factors. This will help to validate the findings so far and improve our understanding of the rate of cognitive decline in people with YOAD and LOAD.

Keywords

young onset Alzheimer’s diseaselate onset Alzheimer’s diseaserate of cognitive declinecognitive difference
Type
Review Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 26 , Special Issue 12: young onset dementia , December 2014 , pp. 1945 - 1953
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altinkaya, A., Behrem, N., Karagoz Sakalli, N., Sutlas, P. N., Kirbas, D. and Topcular, B. (2013) Early onset Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, 19, 107.Google Scholar
Baumann, T. P. et al. (2010). CSF-tau and CSF-A-Beta (1–42) in posterior cortical atrophy. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 29, 530–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernick, C., Cummings, J., Raman, R., Sun, X. and Aisen, P. (2012). Age and rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease: implications for clinical trials. Archives of Neurology, 69, 901–905.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowler, J. V., Munoz, D. G., Merskey, H. and Hachinski, V. (1998). Factors affecting the age of onset and rate of progression of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 65, 184–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bracco, L. et al. (1994). Factors affecting course and survival in Alzheimer's disease. Archives of Neurology, 51, 1213–1219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, Y. et al. (2007). Apoliprotein E epsilon 4 allele frequency and age at onset of Alzheimer's disease. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 23, 60–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, J. et al. (2010). An exploration of cognitive subgroups in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16, 233–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DerSimonian, R. and Laird, N. (1986). Meta-analysis in clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials, 7, 177–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunmont, C. H., Voisin, T., Nourhashemi, F., Andrieu, S., Koning, M. and Vellas, B. (2005). Predictive factors for rapid loss on the Mini Mental State Examination in Alzheimer's disease. The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Ageing, 9, 163–167.Google Scholar
Eriksson, H., Fereshtehnejad, S. M., Falahati, F., Farahmand, B., Religa, D., and Eriksdotter, M. (2014). Differences in routine clinical practice between early and late onset Alzheimer's disease: data from the Swedish Dementia Registry. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Epublished ahead of print, doi: 10.3233/JAD-132273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frisoni, G. B., Testa, C., Sabattoli, F., Beltramello, A., Soininen, H. and Laakso, M. P. (2005). Structural correlates of early and late onset Alzheimer's disease: voxel based morphometric study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 76, 112–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gronning, H., Rahmani, A., Gyllenborg, J., Dessau, R. and Hogh, P. (2012). Does Alzheimer's disease with early onset progress faster than with late onset? A case-control study of clinical progression and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 33, 111–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Han, L., Cole, M., Bellavance, F., McCusker, J. and Primeau, F. (2000). Tracking cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease using the Mini Mental State Examination: a meta analysis. International Psychogeriatrics, 12, 231–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haupt, M., Pollmann, S. and Kurz, A. (1993). Symptom progression in Alzheimer's disease: relation to onset age and familial aggregation. Results of a longitudinal study. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 88, 349–353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hogh, P., Sjo, N. M., Gade, A. and Waldemar, G. (2004). Temporal lobe hypoperfusion in isolated amnesia with slow onset: a SPECT study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 18, 15–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, D., Desikan, R. S., Dale, A. M., McEvoy, L. K. and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initative. (2012). Rates of decline in Alzheimer disease decrease with age. PloS One, 7, e42325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, D., McEvoy, L., Desikan, R. S., Dale, A M. and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2012). Enrichment and stratification for predementia Alzheimer disease clinical trials. PloS One, 7, e47739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huff, F. J., Growdon, J H., Corkin, S. and Rosen, T. J. (1987). Age at onset and rate of progression of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 35, 27–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobs, D. et al. (1994). Age at onset of Alzheimer's disease: relation to pattern of cognitive dysfunction and rate of decline. Neurology, 44, 1215–1220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katzman, R. et al. (1988). Comparison of rate of annual change of mental status score in four independent studies of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Annals of Neurology, 24, 384–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koric, L. et al. (2010). Could clinical profile influence CSF biomarkers in early onset Alzheimer's disease? Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 24, 278–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koss, E. et al. (1996). Clinical and neuropsychological differences between patients with earlier and later onset of Alzheimer's disease: a CERAD analysis, part X11. Neurology, 46, 136–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucca, U., Comelli, M., Tettamanti, M. and Tiraboschi, P. (1993). Rate of progression and prognostic factors in Alzheimer's disease: a prospective study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 41, 45–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKhann, G., Brachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D. and Stadlan, E. M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: report of the NINCDC-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services task force on Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 34, 939–944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mungas, D., Reed, B. R., Ellis, W. G. and Jagust, W. J. (2001). The effects of age on rate of progression of Alzheimer disease and dementia with associated cerebrovascular disease. Archives of Neurology, 58, 1243–1247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2011). Donepezil, Galantamine, Rivastigmine and Memantine for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (TA217). Technology Appraisal Guidance No. 217. London, UK: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Available at: http://guidance.nice.org.uk/TA217.Google Scholar
Nochlin, D., Van Belle, G., Bird, T. D. and Sumi, S. M. (1992). Comparison of the severity of neuropathologic changes in familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 7, 212–222.Google Scholar
Ortof, E. and Crystal, H. A. (1989). Rate of progression of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 37, 511–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panegyres, P. K. and Chen, H. Y. (2013). Differences between early and late onset Alzheimer's disease. American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease, 2, 300–306.Google ScholarPubMed
Rodda, J., Boyce, N. and Walker, Z. (2008). The Old Age Psychiatry Handbook. England: Wiley.Google Scholar
Sa, F. et al. (2012). Differences between early and late onset Alzheimer's disease in neuropsychological tests. Frontiers in Neurology, 3, 81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sakai, M. et al. (2013). Rate of progression of Alzheimer's disease in younger versus older patients: a longitudinal single photon emission computed tomography study. Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 13, 555–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scarmens, N., Albert, S. M., Manly, J. J. and Stern, Y. (2006). Education and rates of cognitive decline in incident Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 77, 308–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seltzer, B. and Sherwin, I. (1983). A comparison of clinical features in early and late onset primary degenerative dementia: one entity or two? Archives of Neurology, 40, 143–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snider, B. J. et al. (2009). Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and rate of cognitive decline in very mild dementia of the Alzheimer type. Archives of Neurology, 66, 638–645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sona, A., Ellis, K. A. and Ames, D. (2013). Rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease: a literature review. International review of Psychiatry, 25, 650–658.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spalletta, G. et al. (2013). Early onset versus late onset in Alzheimer's disease: what is the reliable cut off? Advances in Alzheimer's Disease, 2, 40–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, R. G. et al. (1994). A longitudinal study of Alzheimer's disease: measurement, rate, and predictors of cognitive deterioration. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 390–396.Google ScholarPubMed
Van der Vlies, A. E., Koedam, E. L., Pijnenburg, Y. A., Twisk, J. R., Scheltens, P. and Van der Flier, W. M. (2009). Most rapid cognitive decline in APOE e4 negative Alzheimer's disease with early onset. Psychological Medicine, 39, 1907–1911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, G. et al. (2011). The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) for Assessing the Quality of Nonrandomised Studies in Meta-analyses. Available at: http://www.ohri.ca/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxford.asp; last accessed on 16 April 2014.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. S. et al. (2002). Individual differences in rates of change in cognitive abilities of older persons. Psychology and Ageing, 17, 179–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R. S. et al. (2004). Education and the course of cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease. Neurology, 63, 1198–1202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R. S., Beckett, L. A., Bennett, D. A., Albert, M. S. and Evans, D. A. (1999). Change in cognitive function in older persons from a community population: relation to age and Alzheimer disease. Archives of Neurology, 56, 1274–1279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, R., Gilley, D., Bennett, D. A, Beckett, L. A. and Evans, D. A. (2000). Person-specific paths of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and their relation to age. Psychology and Ageing, 15, 18–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organisation. (1992). The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. WHO Library Cataloguing.Google Scholar