Effects of Vitamin D Use on Outcomes of Psychotic Symptoms in Alzheimer Disease Patients.

Objective: To identify medications that may prevent psychosis in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).

Methods: The authors compared the frequency of medication usage among patients with AD with or without psychosis symptoms (AD + P versus AD - P). The authors also conducted survival analysis on time to psychosis for patients with AD to identify drugs with beneficial effects.

Incident Psychosis in Subjects With Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer's Disease.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: The study consists of 776 elderly subjects presenting to the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) between May 9, 2000, and August 19, 2014. All participants were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association workgroup criteria) or possible or probable Alzheimer's disease (National Institute of Neurologic and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria) and were without psychosis at entry.

Genetic variants associated with susceptibility to psychosis in late-onset Alzheimer's disease families.

Psychotic symptoms are frequent in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) patients. Although the risk for psychosis in LOAD is genetically mediated, no genes have been identified. To identify loci potentially containing genetic variants associated with risk of psychosis in LOAD, a total of 263 families from the National Institute of Aging-LOAD cohort were classified into psychotic (LOAD+P, n = 215) and nonpsychotic (LOAD-P, n = 48) families based on the presence/absence of psychosis during the course of LOAD.

Genetic association between APOE*4 and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease is dependent on the psychosis phenotype.

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms such as psychosis are prevalent in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Because these disabling symptoms are generally not well tolerated by caregivers, patients with these symptoms tend to be institutionalized earlier than patients without them. The identification of protective and risk factors for neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD would facilitate the development of more specific treatments for these symptoms and thereby decrease morbidity and mortality in AD.

Effect of Alzheimer's disease risk genes on trajectories of cognitive function in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Objective: The trajectory of cognitive decline in patients with late-onset Alzheimer's disease varies widely. Genetic variations in CLU, PICALM, and CR1 are associated with Alzheimer's disease, but it is unknown whether they exert their effects by altering cognitive trajectory in elderly individuals at risk for the disease.

Method: The authors developed a Bayesian model to fit cognitive trajectories in a cohort of elderly subjects and test for genetic effects.

No association of psychosis in Alzheimer disease with neurodegenerative pathway genes.

Psychotic symptoms occur in approximately 40% of subjects with Alzheimer disease (AD with psychosis; AD + P) and identify a subgroup with more rapid cognitive decline. We evaluated in 867 AD subjects the association of AD + P with genes which may modify the pathological process via effects on the accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) protein and/or hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT): amyloid precursor protein (APP), beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme (BACE1), sortilin-related receptor (SORL1), and MAPT. Each gene was thoroughly interrogated with tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and gene-based tests were used to enhance power.

Trajectory of cognitive decline as a predictor of psychosis in early Alzheimer disease in the cardiovascular health study.

Objective: To compare the trajectories of cognitive decline between groups with, and without, the later development of psychotic symptoms during Alzheimer disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Design: : The authors examined cognitive function in a new analysis of an existing data set, the Cardiovascular Health Study, an epidemiologic, longitudinal follow-up study. Our analyses examined 9 years of follow-up data.

Trajectories of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD) is a clinically heterogeneous complex disease defined by progressively disabling cognitive impairment. Psychotic symptoms which affect approximately one-half of LOAD subjects have been associated with more rapid cognitive decline. However, the variety of cognitive trajectories in LOAD, and their correlates, have not been well defined.

The relationship of excess cognitive impairment in MCI and early Alzheimer's disease to the subsequent emergence of psychosis.

Background: Psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD + P) identify a heritable phenotype associated with greater cognitive impairment. Knowing when the cognitive course of AD + P subjects diverges from that of subjects without psychosis would enhance understanding of how genetic variation results in AD + P and its associated cognitive burden. This study seeks to determine whether the degree of cognitive impairment and cognitive decline in early AD predicts subsequent AD + P onset.

Prediction of psychosis onset in Alzheimer disease: the role of depression symptom severity and the HTR2A T102C polymorphism.

Psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD + P) identify a heritable phenotype associated with a more severe course. We recently found an association of AD + P with depression symptom severity. Reports have shown an association of a serotonin-2A receptor (HTR2A) gene T102C polymorphism with AD + P and with depression during AD.