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BMC Neurology
Published in: BMC Neurology 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Alzheimer's Disease | Research

Neuroanatomical and neurocognitive correlates of delusion in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

Authors: Seyul Kwak, Hairin Kim, Keun You Kim, Da Young Oh, Dasom Lee, Gieun Nam, Jun-Young Lee

Published in: BMC Neurology | Issue 1/2024

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Abstract

Background

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and delusions are highly prevalent among people with dementia. However, multiple roots of neurobiological bases and shared neural basis of delusion and cognitive function remain to be characterized. By utilizing a fine-grained multivariable approach, we investigated distinct neuroanatomical correlates of delusion symptoms across a large population of dementing illnesses.

Methods

In this study, 750 older adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease completed brain structural imaging and neuropsychological assessment. We utilized principal component analysis followed by varimax rotation to identify the distinct multivariate correlates of cortical thinning patterns. Five of the cognitive domains were assessed whether the general cognitive abilities mediate the association between cortical thickness and delusion.

Results

The result showed that distributed thickness patterns of temporal and ventral insular cortex (component 2), inferior and lateral prefrontal cortex (component 1), and somatosensory-visual cortex (component 5) showed negative correlations with delusions. Subsequent mediation analysis showed that component 1 and 2, which comprises inferior frontal, anterior insula, and superior temporal regional thickness accounted for delusion largely through lower cognitive functions. Specifically, executive control function assessed with the Trail Making Test mediated the relationship between two cortical thickness patterns and delusions.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that multiple distinct subsets of brain regions underlie the delusions among older adults with cognitive impairment. Moreover, a neural loss may affect the occurrence of delusion in dementia largely due to impaired general cognitive abilities.
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Metadata
Title
Neuroanatomical and neurocognitive correlates of delusion in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment
Authors
Seyul Kwak
Hairin Kim
Keun You Kim
Da Young Oh
Dasom Lee
Gieun Nam
Jun-Young Lee
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Neurology / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2377
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-024-03568-5

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