Ercoli Linda, Siddarth Prabha, Harrison Tracy, Jimenez Elvira, Jarvik Lissy F
University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences & Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2005 Dec;18(4):208-12. doi: 10.1177/0891988705281866.
The first reported 20-year prospective follow-up of middle-aged children of Alzheimer patients failed to find statistically significant neurocognitive decline. Because that report did not include a comparison group, the current study compared the 20-year follow-up scores with scores obtained on the same 8 measures by an age-comparable sample of healthy adults without a family history of Alzheimer's disease. Both were convenience samples (n = 24). Statistical analyses (correcting for age) yielded no significant group differences in neurocognitive scores but did show a significantly higher mean score for the comparison group on the Mini-Mental State Examination (29.5 vs 28.8, P = .003, controlling for age). Even though this finding suggests that adult children of a parent with Alzheimer's disease performed well on a limited neurocognitive battery and on the Mini-Mental State Examination, the findings are preliminary and require confirmation on large representative samples with appropriate controls and long-term follow-up.
