COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF AT RISK ELDERLY FOR DEMENTIA

拟议的研究将回顾性地研究家庭因素的作用。 老年人神经心理能力的风险 进行性痴呆（FHPD+）家族史。 FHPD+ 受试者将从现有的非痴呆队列中招募， 来自国家阿尔茨海默病研究中心的老年受试者 （ADRC）的加州大学圣地亚哥分校（UCSD）， 医学，神经心理学能力的回顾性分析将 从这些人身上收集的行为数据。 FHPD+ 将通过获得的医学/家族史访谈来识别受试者 由ADRC，并将组匹配，并与非痴呆症 来自ADRC的老年人，他们没有发现家族史， 痴呆（FH）。 此外，另一组正常老年人 将从社区招募个人， 分析。 这些受试者将被确定为一级亲属 经尸检证实的AD患者中， ADRC的神经病理学核心（即，积极家庭的受试者 “明确的”阿尔茨海默病史; FHAD+）。 这些FHAD+受试者 将被招募，以努力采用更严格的方法， 识别家族风险。 沿着从 神经心理电池通常给予ADRC科目，一种新的 临床和实验性神经心理学测试 和分散注意力，以及旨在量化策略使用的测试 在解决问题和记忆方面，并将被管理。 拟议 研究将扩展我们对神经心理学特征的认识， 的早期DAT，并帮助确定是否临床前认知 标记存在于某些遗传易感个体中， 老年痴呆症的发展

The proposed studies will retrospectively examine the role of familial risk in the neuropsychological abilities of elderly individuals with a positive family history for progressive dementia (FHPD+). The FHPD+ subjects will be recruited from the existing cohort of nondemented elderly subjects from the National Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), School of Medicine, Retrospective analyses of neuropsychological abilities will be performed on behavioral data gathered from these individuals. FHPD+ subjects will be identified by medical/family history interviews obtained by the ADRC, and will be group-matched and compared to nondemented elderly from the ADRC who have not identified a family history for dementia (FH). Furthermore, an additional cohort of normal elderly individuals will be recruited from the community for prospective analyses. These subjects will be identified as first-degree relatives of autopsy-confirmed AD patients who have been examined by the Neuropathology Core of the ADRC (i.e., subjects with a positive family history for "definite" Alzheimer's disease; FHAD+). These FHAD+ subjects will be recruited in an effort to employ more rigorous methods in identifying familial risk. Along with tests selected from the neuropsychological battery normally given to ADRC subjects, a novel battery of clinical and experimental neuropsychologic tests of sustained and divided attention, as well as tests designed to quantify strategy use in problem-solving and memory, and will be administered. The proposed studies will extend our knowledge of the neuropsychologic characteristics of very early DAT, and help to determine whether preclinical cognitive markers exist in certain genetically susceptible individuals at risk for the development of Alzheimer's disease.