title: AD pathology and cerebral infarctions are associated with memory and executive functioning one and five years before death.
abstract: We provide rigorous psychometric evidence for distinct patterns of cognitive impairment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebral infarctions using 440 participants from the Religious Order Study. Latent variable models were used to decompose the effects of AD pathology and cerebral infarctions assessed at autopsy on overall cognition and specific neuropsychological tests at one and five years prior to death. Results support clinical and univariate psychometric analyses that memory impairment is more pronounced in AD, and executive impairment is more pronounced in the presence of cerebral infarctions. These specific effects are subtle relative to the stronger associations of both AD neuropathology and cerebral infarctions with overall levels of cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02131, USA. francesyang@hsl.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Frances M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grigorenko
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tommet
authors.forename: Sarah T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Farias
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mungas
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Paul K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Crane
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D018450:Disease Progression; D004522:Educational Status; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology