Severity of Medial Temporal Atrophy and Amnestic MCI: Selecting Type and Number of Memory Tests

Author(s)

David A. Loewenstein, University of Miami
Amarilis Acevedo, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Elizabeth Potter, University of South Florida
John Schinka, University of South Florida
Ashok Raj, University of South Florida
Maria T. Greig, University of South Florida
Joscelyn Agron, University of South Florida
Warren Barker, University of South FloridaFollow
Yougui Wu, University of South Florida
Brent Small, University of South Florida
Elizabeth Schofield, University of South Florida
Ranjan Duara, University of South FloridaFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

ISSN

1064-7481

Publication Date

12-2009

Abstract

Medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) can be used as a biomarker of pathology that affects mechanisms of episodic memory. The authors compared the strength of this biomarker with performance on four memory measures and examined the influence of demographic factors including age, level of education, and primary language (English or Spanish).

The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-revised, Fuld Object Memory Evaluation (FOME), delayed memory for a story passage, and delayed visual reproduction of the Wechsler Memory Scale-revised tests were administered to 281 subjects who were diagnosed as having no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), impaired non-MCI, or dementia. MTA scores were obtained from visual ratings of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and perirhinal cortex on coronal magnetic resonance imaging scans using a magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo protocol.

Age was associated with scores on all memory measures and MTA. Level of educational attainment had no influence on FOME performance but had greater associations with scores on other memory measures. In regression models, FOME scores had the strongest relationship with MTA scores, accounting for 31% of the explained variability. Among subjects with MCI, an index representing the total number of memory tests that were impaired was also predictive of the severity of MTA scores.

Among four common tests of memory, the FOME was highly associated with MTA, and it exhibited minimal influences of education. Impairment on more than one memory test was more predictive of MTA than impairment on a single memory test.

DOI

10.1097/JGP.0b013e3181b7ef42

Volume

17

Issue

12

First Page

1050

Last Page

1058

NSUWorks Citation

Loewenstein, D. A., Acevedo, A., Potter, E., Schinka, J., Raj, A., Greig, M. T., Agron, J., Barker, W., Wu, Y., Small, B., Schofield, E., Duara, R. (2009). Severity of Medial Temporal Atrophy and Amnestic MCI: Selecting Type and Number of Memory Tests. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(12), 1050-1058.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/566