TY - JOUR
T1 - Cross-sectional associations of amyloid burden with semantic cognition in older adults without dementia
T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Vonk, Jet M J
AU - Twait, Emma L
AU - Scholten, Rob J P M
AU - Geerlings, Mirjam I
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by an Alzheimer Nederland Fellowship to J.M.J. Vonk ( WE.15-2018-05 ), National Institute on Aging (NIA) K99/R00 award to J.M.J. Vonk ( K99AG066934 ), and ZonMw NWO Veni grant to J.M.J. Vonk (project number 09150161810017). This study was conducted in the context of the Netherlands Consortium of Dementia Cohorts (NCDC); NCDC receives funding in the context of Deltaplan Dementie from ZonMw (project number 73305095005) and Alzheimer Nederland. We thank Paulien Wiersma, Librarian Medical Sciences at University Utrecht, for her help in preparing the systematic search strategy. We also thank Dr. Lotte Gerritsen for sharing her R code to perform the meta-analysis.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by an Alzheimer Nederland Fellowship to J.M.J. Vonk (WE.15-2018-05), National Institute on Aging (NIA) K99/R00 award to J.M.J. Vonk (K99AG066934), and ZonMw NWO Veni grant to J.M.J. Vonk (project number 09150161810017). This study was conducted in the context of the Netherlands Consortium of Dementia Cohorts (NCDC); NCDC receives funding in the context of Deltaplan Dementie from ZonMw (project number 73305095005) and Alzheimer Nederland. We thank Paulien Wiersma, Librarian Medical Sciences at University Utrecht, for her help in preparing the systematic search strategy. We also thank Dr. Lotte Gerritsen for sharing her R code to perform the meta-analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Previous research suggests the presence of subtle semantic decline in early stages of Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated associations between amyloid burden, a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, and tasks of semantic impairment in older individuals without dementia. A systematic search in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase yielded 3691 peer-reviewed articles excluding duplicates. After screening, 41 studies with overall 7495 participants were included in the meta-analysis and quality assessment. The overall weighted effect size of the association between larger amyloid burden and larger semantic impairment was 0.10 (95% CI [-0.03; 0.22], p = 0.128) for picture naming, 0.19 (95% CI [0.11; 0.27], p < 0.001) for semantic fluency, 0.15 (95% CI [-0.15; 0.45], p = 0.326) for vocabulary, and 0.10 (95% CI [-0.14; 0.35], p = 0.405; 2 studies) for WAIS Information. Risk of bias was highest regarding comparability, as effect sizes were often not calculated on covariate-adjusted statistics. The relevance of the indicated amyloid-related decline in semantic fluency for research and clinical applications is likely negligible due to the effect's small magnitude. Future research should develop more sensitive metrics of semantic fluency to optimize its use for early detection of Alzheimer's disease-related cognitive impairment.
AB - Previous research suggests the presence of subtle semantic decline in early stages of Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated associations between amyloid burden, a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, and tasks of semantic impairment in older individuals without dementia. A systematic search in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase yielded 3691 peer-reviewed articles excluding duplicates. After screening, 41 studies with overall 7495 participants were included in the meta-analysis and quality assessment. The overall weighted effect size of the association between larger amyloid burden and larger semantic impairment was 0.10 (95% CI [-0.03; 0.22], p = 0.128) for picture naming, 0.19 (95% CI [0.11; 0.27], p < 0.001) for semantic fluency, 0.15 (95% CI [-0.15; 0.45], p = 0.326) for vocabulary, and 0.10 (95% CI [-0.14; 0.35], p = 0.405; 2 studies) for WAIS Information. Risk of bias was highest regarding comparability, as effect sizes were often not calculated on covariate-adjusted statistics. The relevance of the indicated amyloid-related decline in semantic fluency for research and clinical applications is likely negligible due to the effect's small magnitude. Future research should develop more sensitive metrics of semantic fluency to optimize its use for early detection of Alzheimer's disease-related cognitive impairment.
KW - Animal fluency
KW - Category fluency
KW - CSF
KW - Dementia
KW - Neuropathology
KW - Neuropsychology
KW - Non-demented
KW - PET
KW - Preclinical
KW - Prodromal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85093970830&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.mad.2020.111386
DO - 10.1016/j.mad.2020.111386
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33091462
SN - 0047-6374
VL - 192
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Mechanisms of Ageing and Development
JF - Mechanisms of Ageing and Development
M1 - 111386
ER -