Date of Award
Fall 9-20-2024
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Medical Science (MMSc)
First Advisor
Emily Sharp, PhD, ABPP
Abstract
Objectives: Apathy is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and has been shown to be associated with greater impairments in daily functional and cognitive status. Previous studies have used subjects with a clinical diagnosis of AD, without biomarker information, and did not control for potential confounding factors. Design: To evaluate the prevalence of apathy in a biomarker informed cross-sectional study of AD and the association of apathy with functional and cognitive status. Setting: Data used in this study was obtained from the Yale Alzheimer’s Disease Research Unit (ADRU) database. Participants: 279 subjects with and without cognitive impairment due to AD were included. Measurements: Dementia severity was rated via the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Global Score (CDR-GS). Cognitive status was measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and daily functional activities by the Functional Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ). Apathy was assessed using the caregiver completed Neuropsychiatric Index (NPI-Q). Results: Among patients with positive biomarkers for AD, the prevalence of apathy is higher in those participants with cognitive impairment compared to those with no cognitive impairment as measured by the CDR-GS. Further, there was an association between the presence of apathy and greater impairment in functional status in individuals with biomarker positive cognitive impairment due to AD. No association was found between apathy and cognitive performance on the MoCA. Conclusions: Apathy was highly prevalent in cognitively impaired individuals with biomarker confirmed Alzheimer’s disease pathology and was associated with worse functional status than individuals without apathy.
Recommended Citation
Engeland, Megan, "The Association of Apathy with Functional and Cognitive Impairment in Individuals with Biomarker Confirmed Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology" (2024). Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate Program Theses. 227.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysmpa_theses/227
Comments
This is an open access thesis.