Argentina-Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (Arg-ADNI): neuropsychological evolution profile after one-year follow up

Patricio Chrem Méndez, Ismael Calandri, Federico Nahas, María Julieta Russo, Ignacio Demey, María Eugenia Martín, María Florencia Clarens, Paula Harris, Fernanda Tapajoz, Jorge Campos, Ezequiel I. Surace, Horacio Martinetto, Fernando Ventrice, Gabriela Cohen, Silvia Vázquez, Carlos Romero, Salvador Guinjoan, Ricardo F. Allegri, Gustavo Sevlever

The Argentina-Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (Arg-ADNI) study is a longitudinal prospective cohort of 50 participants at a single institution in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Longitudinal assessments on a neuropsychological test battery were performed on 15 controls, 24 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 12 Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia patients. In our study population, there was a high prevalence of positive AD biomarkers in the AD group, 92.3% (12/13); and a low prevalence in the normal controls, 20%; almost half (48%) of the patients diagnosed with MCI had positive amyloid detection. After a one year, the significant differences found at baseline on neuropsychological testing were similar at the follow-up assessment even though the AD group had significantly altered its functional performance (FAQ and CDR). The exception was semantic fluency, which showed greater impairment between the AD group and MCI and normal controls respectively. For these tests, the addition of AD biomarkers as a variable did not significantly alter the variations previously found for the established clinical group's model. Finally, the one-year conversion rate to dementia was 20% in the MCI cohort.