Influence of amyloid and diagnostic syndrome on non-traditional memory scores in early-onset Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Introduction: The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is a useful neuropsychological test for describing episodic memory impairment in dementia. However, there is limited research on its utility in early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD). We assess the influence of amyloid and diagnostic syndrome on several memory scores in EOAD.

Methods: We transcribed RAVLT recordings from 303 subjects in the Longitudinal Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease Study. Subjects were grouped by amyloid status and syndrome. Primacy, recency, J-curve, duration, stopping time, and speed score were calculated and entered into linear mixed effects models as dependent variables.

Results: Compared with amyloid negative subjects, positive subjects exhibited effects on raw score, primacy, recency, and stopping time. Inter-syndromic differences were noted with raw score, primacy, recency, J-curve, and stopping time.

Discussion: RAVLT measures are sensitive to the effects of amyloid and syndrome in EOAD. Future work is needed to quantify the predictive value of these scores.

Highlights: RAVLT patterns characterize various presentations of EOAD and EOnonAD Amyloid impacts raw score, primacy, recency, and stopping time Timing-based scores add value over traditional count-based scores.

Keywords: Alzheimer's; PCA; PPA; amnestic; amyloid; memory; neuropsychology; primacy; recency.