Journal Article

Subjective Cognitive Impairment Cohort (SCIENCe): study design and first results

Prins, Niels D., Wesselman, Linda M. P., Slot, Rosalinde E. R., Van Berckel, Bart N. M., Verfaillie, Sander C. J., Overbeek, Jozefien M., Dols, Annemiek, Teunissen, Charlotte E., Bouwman, Femke H., Lammertsma, Adriaan A., Timmers, Tessa, Sikkes, Sietske A. M., Barkhof, Frederik, Scheltens, Philip, Van der Flier, Wiesje M.

2018

Overview

Background We aimed to describe the Subjective Cognitive Impairment Cohort (SCIENCe) study design, to cross-sectionally describe participant characteristics, and to evaluate the SCD-plus criteria. Methods The SCIENCe is a prospective cohort study of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) patients. Participants undergo extensive assessment, including cerebrospinal fluid collection and optional amyloid positron emission tomography scan, with annual follow-up. The primary outcome measure is clinical progression. Results Cross-sectional evaluation of the first 151 participants (age 64 ± 8, 44% female, Mini-Mental State Examination 29 ± 2) showed that 28 (25%) had preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (amyloid status available n  = 114 (75%)), 58 (38%) had subthreshold psychiatry, and 65 (43%) had neither. More severe subjective complaints were associated with worse objective performance. The SCD-plus criteria age ≥ 60 (OR 7.7 (95% CI 1.7–38.9)) and apolipoprotein E (genotype) e4 (OR 4.8 (95% CI 1.6–15.0)) were associated with preclinical AD. Conclusions The SCIENCe study confirms that SCD is a heterogeneous group, with preclinical AD and subthreshold psychiatric features. We found a number of SCD-plus criteria to be associated with preclinical AD. Further inclusion and follow-up will address important questions related to SCD.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Age / Alzheimer's disease / Biomarkers / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Cohort analysis / Dementia / Geriatric Psychiatry / Geriatrics/Gerontology / Health aspects / Medical imaging / Medical imaging equipment / Memory / Mentally ill persons / Neurology / Neurosciences / NMR / Nuclear magnetic resonance / Older people / Patients / Personality / Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease / Psychiatry / SCD-plus criteria / Statistics / Study design / Subjective cognitive decline / Subthreshold psychiatry / Systematic review