Hippocampal atrophy correlates with clinical features of Alzheimer disease in African Americans.
BACKGROUND
Imaging measurements may aid in the characterization and diagnosis of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Most research studies, however, have been performed on predominantly white study groups despite the fact that there may be biological differences in AD between African American and white patients.


OBJECTIVE
To measure hippocampal volume in African American patients with AD and to correlate these measurements with the presence of AD and neuropsychological test performance.


METHODS
Survey study.


METHODS
Academic center.


METHODS
Fifty-four healthy African American subjects and 32 African American patients with AD were studied. Hippocampal volumes were measured in all subjects from magnetic resonance images using established methods.


METHODS
Correlations were assessed between hippocampal volume and demographic variables, clinical group membership, and neuropsychological performance.


RESULTS
The hippocampi of patients were atrophic with respect to those of healthy subjects (P<.01). Significant direct correlations were present between hippocampal volumes and performance on several different neuropsychological tests (r>0.5 and P<.01 for every test evaluated) when patients and healthy subjects were combined.


CONCLUSIONS
Hippocampal atrophy is a feature of AD in African Americans as it is in white subjects. The neuropsychological-hippocampal volume correlations indicate that hippocampal volume measurements do represent a measure of the structural substrate of functional impairment in AD.
Sencakova
D
D
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minn, USA.
Graff-Radford
N R
NR
Willis
F B
FB
Lucas
J A
JA
Parfitt
F
F
Cha
R H
RH
O'Brien
P C
PC
Petersen
R C
RC
Jack
C R
CR
D001741:Black or African American; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D001284:Atrophy; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014888:Wechsler Scales