Difference in Amyloid Load Between Single Memory Domain and Multidomain Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Study from the SILCODE.

BACKGROUND

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD), an at-risk condition of Alzheimer's disease (AD), can involve various cognitive domains, such as memory, language, planning, and attention.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to explore the difference in amyloid load between the single memory domain SCD (sd-SCD) and the multidomain SCD (md-SCD) and assess the relationship of amyloid pathology with quantitative SCD scores and objective cognition.

METHODS

A total of 63 SCD participants from the SILCODE study underwent the clinical evaluation, neuropsychological assessment, and 18F-florbetapir PET scan. Global amyloid standard uptake value ratio (SUVr) was calculated. Additionally, regional amyloid SUVr was quantified in 12 brain regions of interests. A nonparametric rank ANCOVA was used to compare the global and regional amyloid SUVr between the md-SCD (n = 34) and sd-SCD (n = 29) groups. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to test the relationship of amyloid SUVr with quantitative SCD scores and objective cognition.

RESULTS

Compared with individuals with sd-SCD, individuals with md-SCD had increased global amyloid SUVr (F = 5.033, p = 0.029) and regional amyloid SUVr in the left middle temporal gyrus (F = 12.309, p = 0.001; Bonferroni corrected), after controlling for the effects of age, sex, and education. When pooling all SCD participants together, the increased global amyloid SUVr was related with higher SCD-plus sum scores and lower Auditory Verbal Learning Test-delayed recall scores.

CONCLUSION

According to our findings, individuals with md-SCD showed higher amyloid accumulation than individuals with sd-SCD, suggesting that md-SCD may experience a more advanced stage of SCD. Additionally, increased global amyloid load was predictive of a poorer episodic memory function in SCD individuals.