Dataset Information

Visual impairment in aging and cognitive decline: experience in a Memory Clinic.

ABSTRACT: Visual impairment is common in people living with dementia and regular ophthalmological exams may improve their quality of life. We evaluated visual function in a cohort of elderly individuals and analyzed its association with their degree of cognitive impairment. Participants underwent neurological and neuropsychological exams, neuro-ophthalmological assessment (visual acuity, intraocular pressure, rates of past ophthalmological pathologies, use of ocular correction, treatments and surgeries) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan. We analyzed differences in ophthalmological characteristics among diagnostic groups. The final sample of 1746 study participants aged ≥ 50 comprised 229 individuals with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), 695 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 833 with Dementia (Alzheimer disease: n = 660; vascular dementia: n = 92, Lewy body dementia: n = 34; frontotemporal dementia: n = 19 and other: n = 28). Age, gender and education were used as covariates. Patients with Dementia, compared to those with SCD and MCI, presented worse visual acuity (p < 0.001), used less visual correction (p = 0.02 and p < 0.001, respectively) and fewer ophthalmological treatments (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively) and underwent fewer ocular surgeries (p = 0.009 and p < 0.001, respectively). OCT image quality worsened in parallel to cognitive decline (Dementia vs SCD: p = 0.008; Dementia vs MCI: p < 0.001). No group differences in past ophthalmological disorders or abnormal OCT findings were detected. Efforts should be made to ensure dementia patients undergo regular ophthalmological assessments to correct their visual function in order to improve their quality of life.

SUBMITTER: Marquie M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6581941 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Visual impairment in aging and cognitive decline: experience in a Memory Clinic.

Marquié Marta M Castilla-Martí Miguel M Valero Sergi S Martínez Joan J Sánchez Domingo D Hernández Isabel I Rosende-Roca Maitée M Vargas Liliana L Mauleón Ana A Rodríguez-Gómez Octavio O Abdelnour Carla C Gil Silvia S Santos-Santos Miguel A MA Alegret Montserrat M Espinosa Ana A Ortega Gemma G Pérez-Cordón Alba A Sanabria Ángela Á Roberto Natalia N Moreno-Grau Sonia S de Rojas Itziar I Simó Rafael R Ciudin Andreea A Hernández Cristina C Orellana Adelina A Monté-Rubio Gemma G Benaque Alba A Ruiz Agustín A Tárraga Lluís L Boada Mercè M

Scientific reports 20190618 1

Visual impairment is common in people living with dementia and regular ophthalmological exams may improve their quality of life. We evaluated visual function in a cohort of elderly individuals and analyzed its association with their degree of cognitive impairment. Participants underwent neurological and neuropsychological exams, neuro-ophthalmological assessment (visual acuity, intraocular pressure, rates of past ophthalmological pathologies, use of ocular correction, treatments and surgeries) a ...[more]

PMID: 31213626

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Project description:IntroductionWhen we memorize simultaneous items, we not only store information about specific items and/or their locations but also how items are related to each other. Such relational information can be parsed into spatial (spatial configuration) and identity (object configuration) components. Both these configurations are found to support performance during a visual short-term memory (VSTM) task in young adults. How the VSTM performance of older adults is influenced by object/spatial configuration is less understood, which this study investigated.MethodsTwenty-nine young adults, 29 normally aging older adults, and 20 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) completed two yes-no memory-recognition experiments for four simultaneously presented items (2.5 s). Test display items were presented either at the same locations as the memory items (Experiment 1) or were globally shifted (Experiment 2). One of the test display items (target) was highlighted with a square box; participants indicated whether this item was shown in the preceding memory display. Both experiments comprised four conditions where nontarget items changed as follows: (i) nontarget items remained the same; (ii) nontarget items were replaced by new items; (iii) nontarget items switched locations; (iv) nontarget items were replaced by square boxes.ResultsPerformance (% correct) in both older groups was significantly reduced than young adults in both experiments and each condition. For the MCI adults, significantly reduced performance (vs. normal older adults) was found only for Experiment 1.ConclusionVSTM for simultaneous items declines significantly in normal aging; the decline is not influenced differently by spatial/object configuration change. The ability of VSTM to differentiate MCI from normal cognitive aging is apparent only where the spatial configuration of stimuli is retained at original locations. Findings are discussed in terms of the reduced ability to inhibit irrelevant items and location priming (by repetition) deficits.

Project description:BackgroundAlthough previous studies have demonstrated that the hippocampus plays a role in verbal memory, the role of hippocampal subfields in visual memory is uncertain, especially in those with preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to examine relationships between hippocampal subfield volumes and visual memory in SCD (subjective cognitive decline) and aMCI (amnestic mild cognitive impairment).MethodsThe study sample included 47 SCD patients, 62 aMCI patients, and 51 normal controls (NCs) and was recruited from Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital. Visual memory was measured by the subtests of BVMT-R (Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised), PLT (Pictorial Learning Test), DMS (Delayed Matching to Sample), and PAL (Paired Associates Learning). Hippocampal subfield volumes were estimated using FreeSurfer software (version 6.0). We modeled the association between visual memory and relative hippocampal subfield volumes (dividing by estimated total intracranial volume) using Pearson's correlation and linear regression.ResultsCompared with the NC group, patients with SCD did not find any relative hippocampal subregion atrophy, and the aMCI group found atrophy in CA1, molecular layer, subiculum, GC-ML-DG, CA4, and CA3. After adjusting for covariates (age, sex, and APOE ε4 status) and FDR (false discovery rate) correction of p (q values) < 0.05, in NC group, DMS delay matching scores were significant and negatively associated with presubiculum (r = -0.399, FDR q = 0.024); in SCD group, DMS delay matching scores were negatively associated with CA3 (r = -0.378, FDR q = 0.048); in the aMCI group, BVMT-R immediate recall scores were positively associated with CA1, molecular layer, subiculum, and GC-ML-DG (r = 0.360-0.374, FDR q < 0.036). Stepwise linear regression analysis confirmed the association.ConclusionsOur results indicate a different and specific correction of visual memory with relative hippocampal subfield volumes between SCD and aMCI. The correlations involved different and more subfields as cognitive decline. Whether these associations predict future disease progression needs dynamic longitudinal studies.

Dataset Information

Visual impairment in aging and cognitive decline: experience in a Memory Clinic.

Publications

Visual impairment in aging and cognitive decline: experience in a Memory Clinic.

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