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Lookup NU author(s): Julia SchumacherORCiD, Dr Ruth Cromarty, Dr Peter GallagherORCiD, Dr Michael FirbankORCiD, Professor Alan ThomasORCiD, Professor Marcus Kaiser, Professor Andrew BlamireORCiD, Professor John O'Brien, Dr Luis Peraza RodriguezORCiD, Professor John-Paul TaylorORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
BACKGROUND:Lewy body dementia (LBD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are common forms of degenerative dementia. While they are characterized by different clinical profiles, attentional deficits are a common feature. The objective of this study was to investigate how attentional problems in LBD and AD differentially affect different aspects of reaction time performance and to identify possible structural neural correlates.METHODS:We studied reaction time data from an attention task comparing 39 LBD patients, 28 AD patients, and 22 age-matched healthy controls. Data were fitted to an ex-Gaussian model to characterize different facets of the reaction time distribution (mean reaction time, reaction time variability, and the subset of extremely slow responses). Correlations between ex-Gaussian parameters and grey and white matter volume were assessed by voxel-based morphometry.RESULTS:Both dementia groups showed an increase in extremely slow responses. While there was no difference between AD and controls with respect to mean reaction time and variability, both were significantly increased in LBD patients compared to controls and AD. There were widespread correlations between mean reaction time and variability and grey matter loss in AD, but not in LBD.CONCLUSIONS:This study shows that different aspects of reaction time performance are differentially affected by AD and LBD, with a difference in structural neural correlates underlying the observed behavioural deficits. While impaired attentional performance is linked to brain atrophy in AD, in LBD it might be related to functional or microstructural rather than macrostructural changes.31006825
Author(s): Schumacher J, Cromarty R, Gallagher P, Firbank MJ, Thomas AJ, Kaiser M, Blamire AM, O'Brien JT, Peraza LR, Taylor JP
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Neurology
Year: 2019
Volume: 266
Issue: 7
Pages: 1716–1726
Print publication date: 01/07/2019
Online publication date: 21/04/2019
Acceptance date: 11/04/2019
Date deposited: 03/05/2019
ISSN (print): 0340-5354
ISSN (electronic): 1432-1459
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-019-09323-y
DOI: 10.1007/s00415-019-09323-y
PubMed id: 31006825
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