• Isabel Sala, Ignacio Illán-Gala, Daniel Alcolea, Ma Belén Sánchez-Saudinós, Sergio Andrés Salgado, Estrella Morenas-Rodríguez, Andrea Subirana, Laura Videla, Jordi Clarimón, María Carmona-Iragui, Roser Ribosa-Nogué, Rafael Blesa, Juan Fortea, and Alberto Lleó.
• Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
• J. Alzheimers Dis. 2017 Jan 1; 58 (3): 909-918.

BackgroundEpisodic memory impairment is the core feature of typical Alzheimer's disease.ObjectiveTo evaluate the performance of two commonly used verbal memory tests to detect mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) and to predict progression to Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD-d).MethodsProspective study of MCI patients in a tertiary memory disorder unit. Patients underwent an extensive neuropsychological battery including two tests of declarative verbal memory: The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) and the word list learning task from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-WL). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained from all patients and MCI-AD was defined by means of the t-Tau/Aβ1-42 ratio. Logistic regression analyses tested whether the combination of FCSRT and CERAD-WL measures significantly improved the prediction of MCI-AD. Progression to AD-d was analyzed in a Cox regression model.ResultsA total of 202 MCI patients with a mean follow-up of 34.2±24.2 months were included and 98 (48.5%) met the criteria for MCI-AD. The combination of FCSRT and CERAD-WL measures improved MCI-AD classification accuracy based on CSF biomarkers. Both tests yielded similar global predictive values (59.9-65.3% and 59.4-62.8% for FCSRT and CERAD-WL, respectively). MCI-AD patients with deficits in both FCSRT and CERAD-WL had a faster progression to AD-d than patients with deficits in only one test.ConclusionsThe combination of FCSRT and CERAD-WL improves the classification of MCI-AD and defines different prognostic profiles. These findings have important implications for clinical practice and the design of clinical trials.

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