title: Structural correlates of apathy in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Apathy is the most common noncognitive symptom in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The structural correlates of apathy in AD have not yet been described.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed magnetic resonance imaging data of 35 AD patients with and without apathy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant linear association between apathy severity and cortical gray matter atrophy in the bilateral anterior cingulate [Brodmann area (BA) 24; r = 0.39-0.42, p = 0.01] and left medial frontal cortex (BA 8 and 9; r = 0.4, p < 0.02). Left mean cingulate cortical thinning predicted the presence/absence of apathy at the trend level of significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrates a strong association between apathy and the integrity of medial frontal regions in AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA. lapostolova@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Liana G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Apostolova
authors.forename: Gohar G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Akopyan
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Partiali
authors.forename: Calen A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Dutton
authors.forename: Kiralee M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Ivo D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Dinov
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001284:Atrophy; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic