Cognitive decline in dementia with Lewy bodies: a 5-year prospective cohort study

• Published in: BMJ open 2016-01, Vol.6 (2), p.e010357-e010357
• Main Authors: Rongve, A, Soennesyn, H, Skogseth, Ragnhild, Oesterhus, Ragnhild, Hortobágyi, T, Ballard, Clive, Auestad, B H, Aarsland, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cohort Studies; Comorbidity; Dementia; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Lewy Body Disease - epidemiology; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Norway - epidemiology; Prospective Studies; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010357

ObjectivesWe report the cognitive decline in persons diagnosed with mild dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) during 5 years of annual follow-ups.MethodsPatients were recruited into the study from geriatric, psychiatric and neurology clinics in Western Norway during 2005–2013. They were diagnosed according to clinical consensus criteria, based on standardised clinical rating scales. Autopsy-based diagnoses were available for 20 cases. Cognitive decline for up to 5 years was assessed using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Survival analysis including Cox regression (time to reach severe dementia) and linear mixed-effects (lme) modelling were used to model the decline on MMSE.ResultsAt least one follow-up assessment was available for 67 patients with DLB and 107 patients with AD, with a median follow-up time of 4.3 years. The time to reach severe dementia was significantly shorter in DLB (median 1793 days) compared with AD (1947 days; p=0.033), and the difference remained significant in the multiple Cox regression analysis (HR=2.0, p