Alzheimer's Disease with Very Slow Progression:

A study at a Japanese Memory Clinic

Abstract

   Objective: To elucidate the characteristics of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) who showed very slow progression. Patients: The study participants were 122 AD patients who underwent the MMSE at one year after initial assessment at a Japanese memory clinic. The mean age was 80.5±6.2 (63-93) years and the mean MMSE score was 18.7±4.6 (8-29) . Methods: Patients who showed no decline in MMSE scores between one and three years after initial assessment were included in the very slow progression (VS) group (n=12) . We compared demographic, clinical and cognitive characteristics at one year after initial assessment between the VS group and other patients (n=110) . Results: The patients in the VS group scored significantly better than the other patients in the Following Commands and Ideational Praxis subtests of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) . Conclusion: AD patients with very slow progression showed milder neocortical symptoms such as aphasia and apraxia compared to other patients. Some patients with very slow progression, especially thoses with older age onset, may have limbic neurofibrillary tangle dementia (LNTD) .