title: Predicting rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease patients using quantitative EEG markers and neuropsychological test scores.
abstract: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) can take different courses: some patients remain relatively stable while others decline rapidly within a given period of time. Losing more than 3 Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) points in one year is classified as rapid cognitive decline (RCD). This study used neuropsychological test scores and quantitative EEG (QEEG) markers obtained at a baseline examination to identify if an AD patient will be suffering from RCD. Data from 68 AD patients of the multi-centric cohort study PRODEM-Austria were applied. 15 of the patients were classified into the RCD group. RCD versus non-RCD support vector machine (SVM) classifiers using QEEG markers as predictors obtained 72.1% and 77.9% accuracy ratings based on leave-one-out validation. Adding neuropsychological test scores of Boston Naming Test improved the classifier to 80.9% accuracy, 80% sensitivity, and 81.1% specificity. These results indicate that QEEG markers together with neuropsychological test scores can be used as RCD predictors.
authors.forename: Carmina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reyes-Coronel
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Waser
authors.forename: Heinrich
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Garn
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deistler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dal-Bianco
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Benke
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ransmayr
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grossegger
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers