How Anxiety speeds up progression of Alzheimer's disease reveals MRI study

USA: Anxiety patients progress more quickly from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease, finds a recent study. The study was based on MRI scans done at one point in time. The results of the study were presented at the virtual Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2020 conference. 

Globally, Alzheimer's disease has become a major public health problems. The number of deaths from the disease has more than doubled since 2000. Many Alzheimer's disease patients suffer first from MCI, a decline in cognitive abilities like memory and thinking skills that is more rapid than normally associated with aging. Anxiety has been frequently observed in MCI patients but its role in disease progression is not well understood. Considering this, Maria Vittoria Spampinato, professor of radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, and colleagues determined if anxiety effects brain structure or if the effect of anxiety was independent from brain structure in favoring the progression of disease.

"We know that volume loss in certain areas of the brain is a factor that predicts progression to Alzheimer's disease," said Spampinato. "In this study, we wanted to see if anxiety had an effect on brain structure, or if the effect of anxiety was independent from brain structure in favoring the progression of disease."

The study included 339 patients (average age 72 years) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 2 cohort. Each patient had a baseline diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment; 72 progressed to Alzheimer's disease while 267 remained stable.