Association Between CSF Beta-Amyloid and Apathy in Early-Stage Alzheimer Disease

You likely need to know about this and your doctors' protocol to counteract apathy.  I don't give a shit that no treatments exist for apathy. It is your doctors responsibility to initiate research that finds a treatment. Or don't you care that you have an incompetent doctor? My dad in the midst of parkinsons dementia had apathy, I couldn't help him with any of my suggestions because of that. 

You will need this.

Your chances of getting dementia.

1. 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.
2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.
3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

Association Between CSF Beta-Amyloid and Apathy in Early-Stage Alzheimer Disease 

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A. Vergallo, MD, L. Giampietri, MD, C. Pagni, PhD, ...

First Published March 26, 2019 Research Article

https://doi.org/10.1177/0891988719838627

Article information

Abstract

Aim:

Apathetic syndrome is a common clinical feature in patients with Alzheimer diseases (AD), from preclinical phases to late dementia stages, and it is strongly related to major disease outcomes. Unfortunately, no specific pharmacological treatments for apathy have been accomplished so far. Translational evidences have previously shown that a link between apathy and hallmarks of AD-related pathophysiological, that is, β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques, and neurofibrillary pathology exists. However, only few studies investigated the association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) core biomarkers of AD and apathy scores, finding conflicting results.

Methods:

Thirty-seven patients were identified as having AD dementia according to National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer Association 2011 criteria. All participants underwent an extensive diagnostic workup including CSF assessment to assess the concentrations of the core biomarkers of AD pathophysiology, that is, Aβ₄₂, t-tau, and pTau_181. To follow, they were stratified as apathy absence, apathy mild, and apathy severe according the score of the Neuro Psychiatric Inventory-apathy item. We investigated for potential associations between apathy scores and CSF core biomarkers concentrations as well as for differences in terms of clinical and CSF biomarkers data across the 3 apathy groups.

Results:

The CSF Aβ₄₂ values were negatively correlated with apathy scores. In addition, patients with severe apathy had significantly lower Aβ₄₂ levels compared to nonapathetic ones.

Conclusion:

Based on our results, we encourage further studies to untangle the potential association between the complex pathophysiological dynamics of AD and apathy. Apathy may represent an innovative reliable clinical outcome measure to use in clinical trials, investigating treatments with either a symptomatic or a disease-modifying effect.

Keywords Alzheimer disease, apathy, β-amyloid, BPSD, cerebral spinal fluid, NPI

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