Brain connectivity, functional decline & neuropsychiatric symptoms AD

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Brain structure and connectivity as predictors of functional decline and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease

• IRAS ID

  125069

• Contact name

  Malgorzata Raczek

• Contact email

  m.raczek@brighton.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Brighton and Sussex Medical School

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 10 months, 23 days

• Research summary

  Background
  Dementia is a common and serious condition in later life. At its core is a progressive decline in cognitive functioning and ability to complete activities of daily living (ADL). Most people with dementia will also develop distressing symptoms such as hallucinations, abnormal beliefs, changes in behaviour or agitation. Better understanding of which clinical symptoms and neuroimaging features predict more rapid decline and the emergence of other distressing symptoms could help us understand the disease mechanisms better and plan more individualised interventions.

  Participants and methods
  150 patients referred to West Sussex Memory Assessment Service (MAS) who were given a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective memory complaint will be followed up 2-3 years after assessment and changes in their clinical state will be correlated with brain scan data collected at initial assessment. This study will use the detailed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images and clinical measures of cognitive function, ADL and depressive symptoms that have already been collected in the process of clinical assessment (structural MRI) and the participation in a previous study 12/LO/1438 (functional MRI). The researcher (their consultant psychiatrist from the MAS) will invite these patients to participate in a follow-up assessment, which will include re-testing with the same scales and an assessment of behavioural symptoms. No new scans will be performed.

  Analysis
  We will compare the scans of people who experienced more rapid decline with those who remained relatively stable in their test results. We will do a similar group comparison between patients who have behavioural symptoms and those who did not

• REC name

  London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  16/LO/0633

• Date of REC Opinion

  29 Apr 2016

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion