title: Age at onset is associated with disease severity in Lewy body variant and Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: This study investigated the influence of age at onset on cognitive performance, neuropathological and neurochemical features in autopsy-confirmed sporadic Lewy body variant (LBV) and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We compared 28 early-onset (< or = 70 years) LBV subjects with 28 matched late-onset (> 70 years) subjects. Similarly, we examined the same features in 89 early onset AD and 89 matched late onset AD patients. Patients with early onset LBV and early onset AD declined more rapidly, had more neuritic plaques, and greater neocortical cholinergic loss compared to late onset LBV and late onset AD subjects. Taken together, these results suggest that for both LBV and AD, earlier age at onset may predict a more aggressive disease course.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0624, USA.
authors.forename: Gilbert J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Lawrence A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Alford
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Galasko
authors.forename: Leon J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Thal
authors.forename: Eliezer
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Masliah
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D058225:Plaque, Amyloid / Q000473:pathology; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D016708:Synaptophysin / Q000378:metabolism; D051843:Synucleins
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016708:Synaptophysin; D051843:Synucleins; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase